Salone News

Paopa launches massive job creation program

13 November 2020 at 19:28 | 1692 views

By Our Reporter

When president Julius Maada assumed power on April 18, 2020, he stressed two things in many of his speeches: Free Quality Education and job opportunities for the people, especially young people.

After the inauguration he immediately hit the ground running with first, the FQE, something most of his critics said was impossible. But, today his Paopa ( By all means necessary) government. Today, free quality education is seen all over the country with thousands of new pupils enrolled every academic year, with an ongoing reassessment of teachers’ salaries , thousands of teachers being recruited all over the country and many other developments under the dynamic leadership of Dr. David Sengeh, the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education. So, one can say President Bio has fundamentally delivered on that promise.

Now President Bio has signaled the beginning of the delivery of another big promise and that is the provision of job opportunities for the people. The president on Thursday (photo) launched the construction of an ultramodern airport extension at our country’s only international airport at Lungi.

This construction project alone will provide 2000 jobs according to the experts, not to talk of multiplier effects like the money that is going to be made by hotel and restaurant owners, taxi drivers, the ferries, speedboats, cookery baffa sellers, Okada riders, kekeh drivers, bar and Ataya Base owners and so on. Even churches and mosques will benefit with the upcoming influx of new residents and worshippers (with their offerings and tithes) from other parts of Port Loko district and beyond.

It’s a surprise to many that Paopa would pull this feat in Port Loko district, one of the strongholds of the opposition APC, who did nothing for Lungi since another SLPP government like the current one established the Lungi International airport in 1967. That’s over 50 years ago.

And, according to a State House report, the Paramount of the area could not hold back the impulse to publicly lament that the former APC government was even considering the construction of a new airport elsewhere. Although the Chief did not say that, this was probably because Lungi had always been SLPP since independence. The airport that was envisaged at Mamamah would have overshadowed Lungi and jobs would have disappeared in the area. Mamamah is close to Masiaka, town, the home of the late SAT Koroma, one the founders of the APC. The area is therefore an APC bastion.

But the extension of Lungi is not political. It is economical and in an area with great tourism potential with sandy beaches and the upcoming site of a historic bridge (to provide thousands of jobs again) to link the capital and the airport. That means passengers arriving at Lungi will, not very long from now, drive to Freetown within minutes after arrival.

That’s the Paopa vision and it will happen in about two years. The Paopa leader has been described as a Talk and Do leader.

As for SUMMA, the Russian company that was doing this historic work on our airport, they took almost everyone by surprise. Almost nobody was thinking about Russia. China was the likeliest candidate. And they (Russia) are not asking for a penny from our government.

This is the greatest news so far this year.

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