Concerned about the country’s high unemployment rate, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) in collaboration with the Prince’s Trust International (PTI) and the Field of Skills and Dreams Academy (FSD), is solving Nigeria’s rising youth unemployment rate and skills mismatch through its job, career and employability fair.
At this year’s job fair with the theme ‘Get Hired’, the Director-General of NECA, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, lamented that unemployment was a great challenge for the country.
Noting that the unemployment rate was projected to grow to 40 per cent in 2023, the NECA chief said the partnership among the trio plays a critical role in addressing unemployment, skills gaps and employability in Nigeria and Africa.
Chief Executive Officer of PTI, Will Straw, who described job scarcity as a global challenge, said the body aims to bridge the gap by focusing on programmes that would equip youths with skills.
Straw noted that the PTI was founded by King Charles III of England to tackle the global crisis of youth unemployment.
According to him, PTI, in collaboration with local partners, works on providing opportunities to develop the skills, communication, resilience and confidence of youths to succeed and deliver tangible employment outcomes.
“We work with local partners to deliver education, employment and enterprise programmes that empower young people to learn, earn and thrive,” he said.
For Nigeria, he said PTI’s ambition is to create life-changing opportunities for young people, also aiming to directly support tens of thousands of young people in the years ahead and many more indirectly in their families and communities.
To this end, Straw said PTI was working with private sector to recruit youths, adding that 96 per cent of youths that had undergone their programmes were employed within three months.
In her remarks, the former Vice President of the World Bank, Arunma Oteh, who is also a PTI Trustee, said the launch of the PTI in Nigeria would catalyse more changes and development in the country.
Oteh, who was also a former Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission in Nigeria (SEC), said that with about 60 per cent of Nigeria’s youths’ population investing in them was worthwhile and sustainable for development.
She expressed no doubt that those that attended the job fair would excel, as they had opportunity to meet employers directly, thereby, helping to bridge unemployment gap.
She urged the youths on what they could achieve to impact society and also change the world for good.
Also, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Kachollom Daju, said unemployment was an issue of concern to the Federal Government.
She said that government had made deliberate efforts to bridge the youth unemployment gaps through several interventions, like upgrading of skills centres and the National Development Plan, among others.
She commended the organisers of the fair, noting that it aligns with the government’s effort to bridge unemployment, reduce poverty and enhance development in the country.
FSD Founder, Omowale Ogunrinde, said that many employers are looking beyond certificates to skills that would enhance the values and operations of the organisation.
She disclosed that 3,891 applicants applied for the recruitment fair, but 120 were successful and shortlisted for the recruitment process.
