The Managing Director, Benue Investment and Property Company, (BIPC), Limited, Dr Raymond Asemakaha, has stated that about 4.8 million youths in the state are in the labour market.
Dr Asemakaha who disclosed this when he played host to members of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Benue State council described the figure as huge and alarming.
He added that over 63.8 percent of private companies in the state are moribund and attributed the high level of insecurity in the state to unemployment.
He said, “If you go to our high institutions in the state, you will see that there is a high turnover of students that are graduates.
“Because Benue state does not have private owned companies that could employ up to 100 persons at a stretch, it is affecting our teeming youths, it is affecting the state.
“As we speak, Benue state has over 6.3 million people. By the labour law, when you are 18, you are already an adult. Currently, we have about 4.8 million people that are on the streets and do not have jobs.
Dr Asemakaha said that the Alia administration is committed to create job opportunities for the teeming youths with the proposed establishment of Micro and Nano businesses.
Consequently, the MD, said that by March 2024, BIPC will be launching Benue palm oil and water factories to provide job opportunities for the teeming population.
He added that the company had already started creating short term businesses that will help handpick unemployed youths out of the street.
“What we want to do is to ensure that at every quarter, we employ 60 people and by that we will be reducing the unemployment rate on the streets,” he said.
Asemakaha lamented that the company before the present administration had been declaring losses up to 2 billion but expressed assurance that the company will soon overcome all the teething problems and comfortably discharge its mission and vision.
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