Obansanjo seeks employment for youths

Former President, Chief Olusegun Obansanjo has canvassed a national awareness campaign for the need of employment for Nigeria youth. He said he would not want to be an armchair critic of the youth unemployment, but would rather be among those who would proffer the needed solution to them.

Already Obasanjo who has been warning of a youth revolution in the country owing to unemployment has been promoting a programme to reduce unemployment among the youths.This, he is doing through the centre for human security of his library, Abeokuta which organizes entrepreneurial training for unemployed graduates in the country. Director of the centre, Professor Peter Okebukola at a training workshop of the centre jointly organized with the kwara State University (KWASU) in illorin noted that Obansanjo had been concerned about the unemployment and mobilizing efforts toward addressing it.

He stated: ‘unemployment is perhaps one of the greatest epidemics plaguing development in Nigeria and indeed Africa’.Obansanjo has been concerned and mobilizing other world leaders about this ticking time bomb. In order to back up his campaign with action we have decided to initiate this specialized entrepreneurship programme for unemployed graduates.Okebukola who disclosed that since the workshop commenced four months ago in two states many participants had been able to lift themselves out of unemployment problems, expressed hope that the workshop in Kwara would yield better result. He said that the workshop was designed to train 40,000 unemployed graduates over the next four years at different locations in the country.

‘This will support the efforts of government at the state and federal level as well as the efforts of non governmental agencies and others in reducing unemployment in Nigeria to the barest minimum’ he noted.Okebukola urged the youths not to allow the belief that it was not easy to start making a living for oneself discourage them from nurturing the possibility of becoming successful entrepreneurs. He said that even if they did not find the situation in the country conducive for budding business owners, they should make the discomfort propelling them into establishing successful enterprise of their own.

He added: ‘my dear young people you can get angry at your situation and complain everyday or you can get angry at your situation and do something positive about it. The choice is yours, but when you want to choose, I urge you to choose the later.Okebukola commended for its support on the programme,he said the centre chose to partner with in kwara because it had one of the most well run entrepreneurship programmes in the nation’s university system. Also speaking at the occasion, Vice Chancellor of kwasu, Abdulrasheed Na’ Allah said that it was saddening that many graduates in the country roam the streets because of lack of employment. He said unemployment was a major problem in the country and advised that this should be solved through encouragement of entrepreneurial programme to make the youths self employed.Na’allah said that Nigeria had a vast resources and vibrant population to make it one of the most developed countries in the world, stated that the country would move forward if it resolve the employment problem.

Source: Guardian Newspapers