By Allen P. Lablah in Sanniquellie, Liberia lallenpaye@yahoo.com
Superintendent Dorr Cooper of Liberia’s northeastern Nimba County has urged Mittal Steel Liberia not to put up excuses this year.
According to the Nimba Superintendent, the price of iron ore which dropped on the world market is now increasing and Mittal Steel need to fulfill its corporate social responsibility to the people of Nimba.
The price of iron ore experienced a slump on the world market in recent times.
The global steel giant, Acelor Mittal mines iron ore from Mount Nimba on Liberia’s border with Guinea.
Superintendent Cooper called on Mittal Steel to do everything to increase the number of slots it offers for vocation jobs for students in the second most populous of Liberia’s 15 counties.
Recently, the iron ore company said it wanted 37 students to do vacation jobs at a monthly compensation of US$ 125.00 for the vacation period which runs for some two months.
Instead, the local authorities in Nimba are insisting that a total of 62 students be recruited at a monthly wage of US$ 75.00 each, saying that they want many students to benefit from the opportunity.
Superintendent Cooper is therefore calling on Mittal Steel to recruit many students for its future vacation job program, rather than the 37 people it hired recently.
Mr. Cooper was speaking earlier this week at the County’s Administration Building in the provincial capital, Sanniquellie, when he launched the AML vacation job program.
Meanwhile, an educator in Sanniquellie City, Gasenjo Karnue says he is disappointed over the process in which the vacation job recruitment was done.
Mr. Karnue said the process of choosing ticket to qualify students for the vacation jobs that the Mittal Steel committee used introduced contradiction and undermined education.
He described the ticket system introduced as a “gambling method”.
According to Mr. Karnue, vacation jobs should be a skills work that students must use the power of pen and paper in getting it.
The Levi H. Martin Baptist High School Teacher further indicated that the process was only teaching students how to gamble but not evaluation skills in education.
Mr. Karnue maintains that the previous transparent application process put in place by the vacation job committee was denial by the same committee on grounds that the team intended to use that process that he claimed has suffered students.
On Saturday, June 30, 2018, over 200 persons claiming to be students gathered at the Nimba Administrative Building to pick their no job or job ticket.
When contacted, Mr. William Mendin, the Chairman on the Mittal Steel vacation job committee has declined to comment on the issue.
Out of the 65 beneficiaries, 4 students will receive their pay from the superintendent’s Office, while the rest–61 students will be paid by Arcelor Mittal directly.
The vacation job will be in July and August.