Persons with ages between 18 and 35 years are generally categorised as youths and sociologists insist that youthful persons have a great role to play in a country’s nation-building processes.
The experts say that the role of youths in national development cannot be over-emphasised; adding that young persons constitute the backbone of any society that wishes to prosper in pragmatic terms.
This is because the energy, agility, swiftness of thought and, indeed, physical strength of youths are some of the main attributes that make the youthful age more interesting than any other stage of human existence.
Most leaders recognise the pivotal roles of the youth in the socio-political and economic life of a nation and they, therefore, strive to harness the potential of this segment of the nation’s population.
In spite of this recognition, observers note that since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, only a few youths have had the opportunity to gain political power at the local, state and federal levels.
However, the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has made concerted efforts to rectify the situation and empower Nigerian youths to play more prominent roles in the country’s affairs.
The Jonathan-administration insists it has created more jobs more than any other administration within its short term, as over seven million young Nigerians have been empowered, supported or educated via YouWin, SURE-P and Agropreneur programmes.
The administration disclosed this during the launch of the Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy, designed to aggregate all the programmes in a single window portal for use of the beneficiaries.
Jonathan, who spoke at the event, said that with the new strategy, his administration would be providing about two million jobs per annum.
He called on Nigerian youths to key in to the programme which, he said, had been designed to transform Nigeria into a better country within the next 10 years.
Some of the past beneficiaries of the YouWin, SURE-P, Agropreneurs and the graduate internship programmes, who are already employers of labour, also validated the president’s claims as they shared their testimonies.
Mr Nicholas Okoye, the Chief Executive Officer of Anabel Group, who has played a pivotal role in the war against unemployment, reeled out startling statistics on the job creation programme of the Jonathan-administration.
Okoye, who created the portal which would enable more Nigerian youths to benefit from the various youth empowerment programmes, said that the new portal would eliminate complaints associated with all the job creation programmes.
He urged Nigerian youths to use the single window to access all the Federal Government’s empowerment and entrepreneurship programmes.
Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been collaborating with Federal Government in efforts to develop young entrepreneurs.
One of these NGOs is the National Youth Chamber and Commerce (NYCC) which recently partnered with the Federal Government recently in Abuja on a youth entrepreneurship development programme.
Mrs Sarah Pane, the Special Adviser to the President on Social Development Matters and Special Duties, disclosed this at a sensitisation workshop organised for Zonal and State Directors of NYSC.
Pane, who was represented by Mr Lugard Okonobo, her Special Assistant on Partnership and Diaspora matters, said that the collaboration would help to empower 100,000 youths via the Conference of Volunteers for Economic and Social Transformation (COVEST).
“The NYCC has accepted to collaborate with us to mobilise and create a database of 100,000 volunteers with keen interest to contribute socially and economically to national development.
“We intend to implement projects that are of entrepreneurial and economic benefits.
“The conference will be held in Abuja and across the country, with the aim of engaging the youth,’’ she said.
Pane said that the mandate of the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Social Development Matters and Special Duties was to provide a socio-economic programme that would leverage on the corporate social responsibility of public and private organisations as well as NGOs at home and abroad.
She said that with the support of relevant stakeholders, the NYCC had launched the National Social Enterprises Development Project (NatSED), with the aim of mobilising organisations to harness the potential of youths and women.
She noted that the NGO comprised knowledgeable and zealous members who were ready to contribute to the Transformation Agenda of the Jonathan-administration.
Besides, Pane said that stakeholders, at local, state and federal levels, had provided the enabling environment for willing NGOs and development partners to support the government in efforts to provide the dividends of democracy for the citizenry.
The Director General of NYCC, Mr Peter Ayim, said that his organisation was spurred into the venture by the growing need for an organised private-sector platform for youth entrepreneurs’ development because of the challenges thrown up by the informal and unorganised nature of the sector.
“The NYCC serves as a business membership and critical social capital for youth entrepreneurs, in line with contemporary trends and global best practices in youth entrepreneurship promotion and development.
“The NGO provides a veritable, organised private sector platform for the constructive engagement of policy makers and relevant stakeholders on youth entrepreneurship policy advocacy, information sourcing and dissemination.
“Others include the networking, knowledge sharing and capacity building of young business executives, as well as the provision of robust and dynamic business development support services designed to serve their specific challenges and needs,’’ he said.
Ayim said that the sensitisation workshop would not only build the participants’ capacity but would also mobilise aspiring young entrepreneurs across the country to actively participate in the YOUWIN programme.
He called on the youths to brace up to the challenge and take advantage of the prevailing opportunities to get meaningfully engaged.
In a nutshell, analysts insist that a lot of young Nigerians have benefited from the Jonathan-administration in terms of employment.
Statistics reveal that unemployment in Nigeria hit its peak in 2010, following the global economic recess which negatively affected the global economy.
In 2011, the unemployment rate in the general population of the country was nearly 24 per cent, with youth unemployment reaching nearly 50 per cent.
However, the overall unemployment has declined to about 15 per cent in the first half of 2014, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, while youth unemployment has gone down to less than 38 per cent.
Analysts say that these changes are the outcome of the Jonathan-administration’s job-creation strategies which encompass the agricultural, industrial and entertainment sectors, among other sectors of the economy.
They note that jobs were created through various safety net projects of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).
Apart from this, over 180,000 youths and women have been employed through the Community, Social Women and Youth Employment (CSWYE) Programme, while over 10,000 health workers were employed under Maternal and Child Health and Midwives Service scheme of SURE-P.
Besides, over 5,000 youths, who received training through the Technical Vocational Educational Training in different skills and vocations, have been deployed to several industries, while 15,000 youths have been employed by FERMA for road repair and vegetation control activities.
Also, more than 50,000 unemployed graduates have secured employment via the Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) across the nation.
Beyond that, the YOUWIN programme has enabled several young Nigerians, especially women, to receive grants from the Federal Ministry of Finance to set up their own businesses and become employers of labour.
All in all, observers say that the efforts of the Jonathan-administration to create jobs, directly or indirectly, have significantly boosted employment in the country, particularly over the last four years.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan
