THE Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has described the present trend of youth unemployment as unacceptable; adding that youth unemployment is very serious in Nigeria and other Africa countries.
Ngige gave this position as the Nigeria Government and the African Development Bank (AFDB) go into partnership to reverse the trend.
Already, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the AFDB, has commenced work on a program plan termed: “Youth Employment and Skills Development in Nigeria, Public-Private Roundtable.”
Addressing a team of experts from AFDB, led by the Chief Development Economist, Human Capital Youth and Skills Development, Rosemond Offei Awuke, the minister said the partnership between the Federal Government and the bank is very imperative to reverse the trend of youth unemployment.
He said: “The youths constitute a larger proportion of Nigeria’s Population; the pertinent question, therefore, is how many of these youths are fully employed, underemployed and unemployed? Alarmingly, majority of Nigerian youths are in the underemployed and unemployed categories.”
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Ngige emphasized that the Public-Private Sector roundtable is very important to identify the factors responsible for high youth unemployment and make recommendations that would address the daunting challenges associated with it.
Besides, he said it would also seek to implement most of the recommendations with a view to reverse the ugly trend of rising youth unemployment in Nigeria.
The Minister assured the African Development Bank that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is not relenting in its efforts at creating the much needed decent jobs for Nigeria youths, adding that the quantum jobs being created through various intervention programmes such, as the Npower further contribute to the gains.
“We assure you that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to all efforts aimed at job creation for the teeming unemployed Nigerian youths. I have no doubt that from this roundtable, meaningful solutions will be provided on youth employment.” The Minister said.
In her remarks, the leader of the AFDB team, Rosemond Offei Awuke commended the commitment of Nigeria Government to the fight against youth unemployment.
She assured of the determination of the African Development Bank to support the Nigerian Government in its drive at job creation.
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