Agency urges action on unemployment
TO promote youth development in the country, the Federal Government is considering creating youth desks in all federal ministries and establish a fund to help them beat stringent loan conditions in regular banks.
Minister of Youth Development, Bolaji Abdullahi, disclosed this at the just concluded High Level Youth Summit of the United Nations (UN).
Abdullahi spoke as a UN agency (UN-HABITAT) called on Nigeria and other African countries to give priority to youth employment.
The minister, who was represented at the UN summit by Mrs. Ajulu Joy Ifeoma, said, "at the moment, the Federal Government is exploring the possibilities of establishing youth desks in all ministries, departments and agencies, to facilitate the mainstreaming of youth issues into the national development agenda."
Late Tuesday, at the end of the summit in New York, the UN, pledging its own support for willing governments, urged member states, including Nigeria "to take action to enable young people to overcome widespread unemployment and other problems and to ensure that they participate integrally in global efforts for peace and sustainable development."
Abdullahi said the Federal Government is also in the process of establishing a youth fund "from which the youth can draw to realise their self-development as entrepreneurs," noting that the decision was taken "in view of the usual difficulties associated with securing loans from regular financial institutions."
Also, Nigeria disclosed to the UN summit that government had created various structures and programmes for youth empowerment and entrepreneurship, including a Youth Parliament and National Youth Council. The council, it was stated, serves as an interface between the Federal Government and the youth organisations in Nigeria.
Besides, according to the minister, there are ongoing advocacy efforts to encourage youth participation at the grassroots level in youth-oriented policy formulation and implementation.
The UN-HABITAT, which described youth employment as a central issue in the achievement of sustainable reduction in urban poverty and inequality in cities, stressed that it has the potential to bring together the broader agendas that are critical to economic growth, social inclusion, urban planning, environmental sustainability and good governance.
Speaking yesterday at the African Urban Youth Assembly, the Director, Global Monitoring and Research Division of the UN-HABITAT, Nairobi, Prof. Oyebanji Oyeyinka, observed that urban employment is at the heart of the idea of shared prosperity that brings together the values of social justice within the framework of a productive urban economy.
He added: "Yet, the employment intensity of economic growth and urbanisation has been declining in recent years, raising concerns about the content and quality of work. For a variety of reasons, growth has not pulled enough people into work and out of poverty. Consequently, it is not sufficient to treat employment as a mere outcome of economic growth.
Governments at all levels need to place the goals of full and productive employment and decent work in the centre of a city's long run prosperity and urban planning. This view of development should cover all workers in formal and informal economies, and in factories, offices, homes and communities, particularly to address the emerging youth employment crisis."
Commending the Nigerian government on the importance accorded youth empowerment in Nigeria through the Ministry for Youth Development and the establishment of youth skill development centres, among others, he stressed that government's efforts in trying to resolve the employment challenge is at the heart of the great development challenge of all region of the world today.
According to him, "about half of the world's over six billion humans are under the age of 25 years, although there are regional variations; in the Middle East, half the population is under 20. About one billion young people will be added to this number by 2015. However, this potential asset in youth constitutes the highest proportion of the unemployed in most regions. Youth unemployment rate tends to be twice that of the overall labour force and in some cases, 2.5 to three times the adult rate of unemployment."
The Guardian