The Vice President for the Gender and Youth Cluster, Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior, has directed the Minister of Transport, Madut Biar Yiel, to impose an 80 per cent nationality requirement on all foreign aviation companies operating in the country.

This comes after the South Sudan Pilots Association (SSPA) raised complaints about a lack of employment for them despite having a license to work as pilots in the country.

Nyandeng said it was dangerous for educated youth to stay unemployed.

She said it was high time for the country to do what it could to provide employment opportunities to the youth in the country to avoid further violence in the future.

“Therefore, as you have one of the young and able ministers who understands what it means to be jobless, he must look into your problems, and let him try to address them with our help.”

“As such, I want you to go and start implementing what our labour law talks about, that all companies operating in the country must have 80 per cent of their work done by South Sudanese. That is what will save our youth,” Nyandeng directed.

She added that due to the unemployment among the youth in the country, most of them across the country have turned into sources of insecurity.

” Now all the insecurity we have, whether in rural areas or urban areas, is created by the youth, and they account for 73.6 per cent of the country’s population.”

However, VP Nyandeng said unless the youth were engaged in developmental activities, there would be no security at the grass roots.

She encouraged the pilots not to give up, saying there were better things ahead of them. She also reiterated the government’s commitment to addressing some of the issues facing the country’s youth.

Speaking during their first-ever launch of the South Sudan Pilots Association (SSPA) on Saturday in Juba, SSPA Chairman Captain Dau Majak Ayom revealed that most of their pilots remained unemployed despite their qualifications.

Capt. Ayom said most of the aviation companies operating in the country have failed to employ nationals simply because of their country’s aviation rules and regulations.

According to the SSPA Chairman, there are over 75 well qualified South Sudanese pilots in the country, but only three are active while others remain without jobs.

“You know, H.E Mama Nyandeng, as we speak now, we have over 75 well-qualified pilots in the country, but out of that number, we may say only three or four are practising and active, while the rest are inactive simply because there are no jobs for them,” Capt. Ayom disclosed.

He said since the country is yet to start registering its own aircraft, it makes it difficult for the country’s pilots to get jobs with other aviation companies.

However, the SSPA Chairman believes that they will only be employed if the government follows its laws, which talk about employing 80 per cent of nationals in all foreign companies.

He called on the government to do their part in order to encourage more young people to join the industry.

Our work is not like the other jobs where someone studies. That is all. Ours needs daily practice, but if you go even seven days without practicing, you are trying to kill your career.