Minister charges gov’t, private sectors, others to increase investment in youth
The Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has enjoined the government, the private sector and development partners to increase investment in youth development.
He said this would ensure that Nigeria harness the advantage of technology to reposition the the country’s economy.
The Minister said the informal sector which accounts for a large percentage of vocational skills training programmes, technology could also be mainstreamed to ensure an increase in innovation and more relevant training process for youths.
The Minister made this known while delivering keynote address on “Digital Literacy: A Panacea For Youth Unemployment” at the Government College Ibadan Old Boys Association (GCIOBA) Ibadan Branch, 2021 Annual Luncheon yesterday.
He said that incorporating technology in the informal vocational training system could also promote cost effectiveness, as the logistics required to procure training of groups of youth using the traditional classroom based system can also be enhanced through the use of technology.
He further disclosed that over 5,000 youths were undergoing training in various digital skills set for 2 to 3 months under the President’s Stimulus Programme of the Government’s Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP), adding that nothing less than 71, 000 youths were also trained during COVID-19 pandemic.
He maintained that after the training of first batch of 5,000, another batch would follow, noting that the importance of Digital Literacy to employability is that Digital Literacy is a necessity to succeed in the modern economy.
He said, “Nigeria is endowed with human and natural resources and great potential to advance both global and regional development, challenges have over the years slowed our national social-economic progress. One of such challenges is the issue of youth unemployment.
“Nigeria, in which a greater share of the youth population of Sub-Saharan Africa resides, is faced with major challenges of unemployment and underemployment.
“Young people between the ages of 15 to 35 years, who comprise 40% of Nigeria’s population of over 180 million, are the hardest hit, with a high youth unemployment rate, that reached an all-time high of 38% in Quarter 2 of 2018.
“The high youth unemployment rate in Nigeria is as a result of the Nigerian economy’s weak capacity to absorb new entrants into the labour market. An estimated 4.5 million enter the job market annually with only a 10% absorption rate.
“Other challenges include, skills mis-match between the labour market and the educational system and that which is particularly important to our discussions today, is that over 60% of graduates lack basic digital skills to compete in the 21st century digital economy.
“There is a digital skills gap in Africa, Nigeria is no exception. There are digital job opportunities but we lack the youth that have the requisite digital skills to take up these jobs. For instance, in the cyber security area, ever half a million placements exist for cyber security analysts.
“Nevertheless, we must go beyond the lamentation that our youth lacking the digital skills they need, and come to the realization that both the Government and private sector must collaborate in the drive for digital up skilling of our teeming youth. It must start now from primary to secondary schools.
“Our focus must not be only on university graduates. In more developed countries, we see B-year-old kids coding successfully. We must start early. There is no age barrier in the acquisition of digital skills.
“Having the basic digital literacy skills can enhance the employability of individuals, most jobs require digital literacy. In Nigeria, with the high level of youth unemployment, a youth skilled in basic and intermediate digital skills in more likely to access jobs locally and globally.”
