Blue, green collar jobs panacea for graduate unemployment —Labour Minister

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has called on unemployed graduates to embrace blue/green collar jobs as sustainable alternatives to white collar jobs.

He made the call at a town-hall meeting on popularisation of blue/green collar jobs among graduates of tertiary institutions in Nigeria, held in Benin, Edo State.

Represented by the Director, Special Duties and Projects Department in the Ministry, Dr Martina Nwordu, the Minister urged Nigerian youth to invest their talent in the blue/green collar jobs sector, stressing that the richest youth in the world were not government employees but those who engaged in creative skills to distinguish themselves.

“The richest youth of the world, aged between 21 and 31 years, are not employees of government but smart entrepreneurs who distinguished themselves in creative skills in various areas.” Ngige said.

He said the purpose of the meeting, held con-currently in four other geopolitical zones of the federation, was to sensitise representatives of key stakeholders in Graduate Employment on the benefits of Blue/Green Collar Jobs as an alternative response to the challenges of graduate unemployment.

According to Ngige, the Townhall meeting is part of the activities in the Graduate Employability Enhancement Scheme (GEES), an initiation of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment on how to break the resilience of high unemployment rate in the country.

He urged the stakeholders – unemployed graduates, parents, career counsellors, students of tertiary institutions, among others – to key into the profitable opportunities offered by Blue/Green Collar jobs, which include income satisfaction, self-dignity and esteemed self-worth.