Our target is to make 100,000 Nigerian youths, gainfully employed by 2020 —NBC

A member of Coca Cola Hellenic company, the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), has announced plans to  come up with initiatives that would ensure that about 100,000 Nigerians,  especially youths, are gainfully employed by the year 2020.

Making this disclosure in Lagos, at the launch of the company’s  Youth Empowered Scheme, the company’s  Legal, Public Affairs and Communications Director, Mrs Sade Morgan, explained that the scheme had become necessary so as to fight the alarming rate of unemployment, especially among the nation’s youths.

She explained that the youth  initiative,  designed for Nigerians within  the lower age range, is meant to provide a life-changing opportunity for Nigerians youths by helping them discover, develop and harness their  talents.

According to her, the initiative would, among other benefits,  provide them the opportunity of learning some basic business skills such as business planning, financial literacy, project management, sales and negotiation skills.

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“This is a significant investment in youth development. For instance, 64 per cent of the nation’s  population belongs to the youth cadre. Unfortunately, youth unemployment rate  is 25.20 per cent. Perhaps to make matters worse, 48 per cent of the nation’s employers rated young graduates poor in ‘conceptual and creative thinking’. We believe if this set of people (the youths) are actually the leaders of tomorrow, something must be done in this regard.”

“There must be serious intervention; hence this programme,” she stated.