Students: Our economic security lies abroad

DIVERSIFICATION and an open-minded, fluid approach to education will strengthen this country’s chances of successfully navigating the economy in the coming years.

Economist Indera Sagewan rallied for a shift in TT’s economic focus, advocating for greater investments in agriculture and tourism as TT continues to rely on the energy sector for revenue.

Speaking at the St Mary’s College Past Students Union post-budget discussion on October 8, at the school's hall in Port of Spain, Sagewan chided successive governments for failing to diversify the economy, noting a marked decline of the agricultural sector despite repeated pledges for food security.

Sagewan delivered a presentation, along with fellow economist Marlene Attz, former minister in the Ministry of Finance Mariano Browne and Minister of Public Administration Allyson West.

“Government after government always only talk about (diversification) in the future tense,” Sagewan complained, noting the sector’s contribution to GDP has fallen below one per cent, while the food-import bill has skyrocketed.

Sagewan also expressed concerns about future job prospects for young adults, pointing to the dominance of the trade and retail sector and asking, “Do any of you want a job in those sectors when you graduate?”

Sagewan said TT needed to end its "love affair" with oil and gas.

Her comments came moments after Minister of Public Administration Allyson West spoke about TT's successful oil and gas negotiations with Venezuela.

In July, Venezuelan Oil Minister Pedro Tellechea agreed on a 20-year natural-gas production and exploration deal with bp and NGC. The agreement allows for 25 per cent of production from the Cocuina gas field off the Venezuelan coast to supply TT’s petrochemical sector, with the rest going to TT’s LNG industry. This is set to materialise by 2027.

"Between now and then we will continue to have a bit of an economic challenge," West cautioned, adding that while she agreed with diversifying the economy in theory, the government must keep focused on the oil and gas industry, as it represents the largest source of revenue.

Gregg Mannette, a St Mary's College student, questioned the potential for political fallout in TT's energy deals with Venezuela.

Attzs, UWI lecturer in economics, responded, “There are a number of geopolitical risks (facing) TT.

“I think it is a geopolitical risk. But if you've been following some of the conversations, (the) Minister of Energy has continuously assured that they are monitoring this situation and they have put the appropriate risk-mitigation measures in place in terms of the contracts they have signed.”

Sagewan, however, expressed frustration with past and present governments’ approach to economic diversification.

“My pet peeve,” she said, “is the issue of non-energy diversification. I have been speaking about it, for Christ’s sake, for over 30 years.

“And government after government always only talk about it in the future tense.

“Ten years later, even though every budget has said that food security is an imperative, you know where the agriculture sector is?

"It continues to decline. It continues to contribute less than one per cent to the GDP of this country,” she said, adding that the food-import bill has risen to over $7 billion.

Stifled diversification will affect the future job prospects of TT’s youth, she warned.

“Do you know what is the fastest growing sector in this country?” she asked a student. “Trade and retail. In 2023, trade and retail grew over 10.9 per cent while the energy sector contracted… “That's how we diversify. Do you know the jobs that are being generated in there? Shopkeepers, sales attendants, maybe managers.

“(Does any) one of you want a job in any one of those sectors when you graduate out of university?”

The students responded with an emphatic “No.”

Energy expert and entrepreneur Joel “Monty” Pemberton, a St Mary’s College past pupil, was explicit in his call for an overhaul of the school curriculum to empower a resilient, “open-minded” future workforce, particularly one driving economic diversity.

He suggested the country is not yet in dire straits but that a lack of fluidity and foresight from decision-makers investing strategically in education will inevitably put TT at an economic and social disadvantage.

Pemberton founded BlewStream Ecosystem, a professional services network firm, and BlewCoast, a sustainability and environmental management firm. He also established DeNovo Energy, an upstream natural gas producer, in 2016, and served as managing director until his departure in 2020.

Pemberton pre-empted his remarks on the education system, describing Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s 2024/2025 budget presentation on September 30 as “balanced” and “fair” in the context of a one-year cycle.

“You’re trying to land a Boeing jet and you want to land that as smoothly as possible, you don’t want it to come down too hard, because that can (negatively affect) the lesser (privileged) in society, and that’s a tricky, tricky situation that the government faces.”

Pemberton predicted the country would experience “turbulence, but we’re coming in for a smooth landing…”

He said his bigger worry “relates to you (the students and) the quality of the education system and what you’re learning.

“Our education system, we (at BlewCoast) feel, is not moving at a pace that allows you all to get the skills required for the future.”

Pemberton shared some of the qualifications and skills he seeks in potential employees. He said his company seeks analytical thinkers.

“It’s not whether you can do the job; it’s how you can handle, manage, think ahead, (using) technology to enhance that…Is that taught in school today?” he asked, receiving mostly negative responses.

“AI (artificial intelligence) and Big Data – AI is a big buzzword. How do you manage data? You may have heard data is the new oil. Is that taught in school today?

“Should we be asking (how we) revamp the education system to create a curriculum that allows you to get the jobs you want?”

He said he wasn’t taught about leadership until a company he worked at sent him to Harvard when he was 35.

“You’re not taught about leadership at secondary school (nor) university.

“These are very important things that (must) be taught as part of the curriculum. This is not just about engineering or maths, etcetera, (but about) resilience, flexibility and agility. What does it mean to be agile? What does it mean to keep an open mind?

"Those are big changes that I expect to see in our curriculum, because we cannot remain with a fixed mindset in this world today. If we do, we’ll tackle the same problems with the same solutions, expecting the same results.”

Students’ budget takeaways

Business Day spoke with several St Mary’s College sixth-form students about their opinions of the budget.

Some expressed concern about their voices being unheard, and possibly a lack of job prospects in the country when they leave school.

Some hinted at the brain-drain issue, saying they plan to leave TT to further their education and start a career.

“I think that in TT currently, job security feels very loose,” said Tyler Beard. “It feels very volatile. “In my school, a lot of us do not have aspirations to stay here. None of us want to stay in TT.

“We are all thinking that we want to go to universities away, we want to look at all these other opportunities, and I think that alone says a lot about how we feel about the job security in TT.”

He said the consensus is that their future is more secure abroad than at home.

Beard said he does not feel youth voices are properly considered in decision-making processes in the government.

“I think youth voices are heard in speaking, but not in practice…They will speak to us, they will hear us, but I feel like a lot of the other young people that you will speak to will share the sentiment that we do not feel that our voices and the things we say are actually put into practice for us to succeed.”

Jibrail Richards shared a similar view.

“Every year they ask about the youth's input in the budget and the budget after. And we see that they don’t take our input and actually put it into anything.

“For example (economic) diversification…should’ve been done decades ago.

“It’s disappointing seeing that the potential that TT has to be a hub in the Caribbean has not been fully realised.

“I love my country,” Richards said, “but to feel that I have to go away to get a proper education and come back and give back (is) a little disheartening.”

Lukas Bason also thought youth voices were not being heard.

“They are considered somewhat, because we have forums like this, where you have ministers here with other schools and institutions. But fundamentally people don’t understand that our generation isn’t just about wanting climate change solved; it’s more: we want a job, but we want a job that makes sense, a job that actually helps the country, a job that helps us and also the country.

“When they talk about solar panels and selling your surplus to the grid, that's the type of things that people want to hear about in our generation. We don’t just want to hear about percentages and allocations.”

While Bason expressed optimism about a future in geography, he was concerned about prospects for his peers considering other sectors.

“Personally I think it’s all right for me, but for people in other fields like economics, sciences, business, I think the opportunities would be limited, because the entrepreneurial spirit isn’t as high as it used to be in the country, because crime is such a big problem.”

Gregg Mannette also shared his thoughts: “I think that with regard to youth input, they may talk to persons in authority (over) children, so let’s say principals and the Minister of Youth Development.

"But those are not the firsthand experiences of children, especially secondary-school students like myself. Our desires might be more surface-level, but are more realistic.

"We want to know that our future is secure, that we can live in this country knowing we won’t have to pay $10 for a doubles or have to struggle to make ends meet in ten years.

“Many of my peers are looking to go abroad purely to make a better life and see the opportunities, as the opportunities in TT are dwindling in our eyes.”

Rauwshan Lewis shared his firsthand experience of navigating the job market.

“Job security is a kind of (sore) topic, because as a young person, it was hard to even find a summer job while school was closed.

“Employers are requiring work experience when you have no work experience to use. So if you’re asking for work experience and I'm trying to find a job to get work experience, it’s just contradicting itself.

"And in terms of getting a full-time job in TT, it might be a little rough because now that there’s a wage increase in the public sector, there will be people searching for public jobs more so than private (sector) jobs.

“Then when it comes to private jobs they will be asking for work experience that I don’t possess. So it’s a very shaky feeling.”

With reporting by Mya Quamie