12,399 views

, 9 tweets, 3 min read

Dear Unemployed Youth,

As companies continue to bemoan the unavailability of suitable candidates amidst high unemployment rate, Nigeria needs programs to re-skill and right-skill graduates so they can stop missing out on opportunities.

Here’s some solutions. Read & RT.

#Thread

Currently, high underemployment rates of 20.2% in Q3 2018 supports the anecdotal evidence that many university graduates lose earnings during five years of school only to land lower-paying jobs for which 6–18 months of training would have sufficed.

Formalisation and consequent skilling of the informal artisan sector presents opportunities not only to improve livelihoods but to also do so while enabling higher government revenue collections.

There is a general negative image associated with artisans in Nigeria thus, not making it the first career choice for many. However, how does one place the blame on parents when the education system does not appear equipped to cater for these job sectors?

The govt must step up.

The government has opened artisan centres with particular focus on increasing the indigenous capacity of Nigerian artisans in the housing and construction industry.

@officialnyscng

@officialnyscng

The government is even making strides to turn this around and encourage technical skills for artisans across different sectors. This includes (unlimited to) the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Department (SAED) under @officialnyscng programme.

@MBuhari

@MBuhari

More so, the @MBuhari govt is making encouraging strides with its innovative NPower programme, with its various sub-programmes.

While 500,000 persons have been engaged between 2016 to 2017 alone, the approach still lacks scale without deep partnership with the private sector.

Finally, state governments will need to increase their internally generated revenue (IGR) to meet the additional educational investments necessary for Nigeria’s growing population.