Earlyface

The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Wednesday called for urgent measures to tackle the rising spate of youths unemployment in the country.

Sanusi, who described the development as “a time bomb," stressed the need for the country to initiate policies to would lead to job creation “before it explodes.”

He made this call in Umuahia, where he delivered the maiden Ochendo Lecture Series, which was part of the “Abia Youth Empowerment Summit (A-Yes) 2013,” aimed at finding a sustainable solution to youths unemployment in the state.

“The unemployment of youths in Nigeria poses a threat to its development, security and peaceful co-existence,” he said, adding that it is “further underscored by the fact that Nigeria is a pluralistic and multi-ethnic society with different cultural and religious background.”

In the lecture entitled “Youth Employment as Panacea for Insecurity in Nigeria,” the CBN governor noted that despite the fact that youths possess tremendous productive energy, governments at all levels had failed to harness such potential for the transformation of the economy.

He blamed the ‘dysfunctional economy’ as the root of all problems facing Nigeria hence “a vision of prosperous, peaceful and technologically advanced society is therefore, unrealisable in an environment where the youths are not properly groomed and positioned.”

Though youths unemployment appears to be a huge problem, Sanusi insisted that “the solution is simple.”

According to him, what the country needs to do is to develop the agricultural sector and enhance its industrial capacity to create the needed job opportunities for the youths.

In his address, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State said his administration had chosen to harness the potential of the youths.
“We have consistently advocated the importance of the youths of Abia State in the politics, development, security and the total emancipation of our people,” he said.
Orji added that  his administration has defined the concept of youths empowerment through enlightenment and by prioritising issues concerning youth development.
He stated that apart from empowering youths through skill acquisition programmes, the administration has refocused the agricultural sector in order to create jobs and wealth in the State.

The governor also disclosed that the focus on the agriculture sector has started yielding the desired results as farms across the state and the rubber plantations have so far employed over 1000 youths.

The event also witnessed the presentation of 200 vehicles to youths for commercial transportation. This was in addition to 50 other vehicles, 700 tricycles, hairdressing equipment, sewing machines, laptops, among others that had been given out in the empowerment project which commenced in 2012.