By Goodluck Ikiebe
The Federal Government has signed a Partnership Agreement with Alliance for Youth Nigeria with a view to boosting employment opportunities among the teeming Nigerian Youths.
The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, while signing the Partnership Agreement in his Office at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, stated that the agreement became imperative, especially because of the increased number of unemployed youths in the country.
According to him, the Buhari-led Administration would continue to partner relevant bodies to give young Nigerians ready to work training, internship and mentoring opportunities in entrepreneurship, to contribute towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8.
This, the Minister added, would further promote inclusive, sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all by the year 2030.
Dare explained that government had consistently developed policies and programmes such as the N75 Billion Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF), designed solely for Youth employment, out of which 20,000 youth have so far, benefitted.
He therefore called on them to key into the various government initiatives and programmes so as to empower themselves for self reliance, thereby contributing to the socio-economic development of the country.
Speaking earlier, the Country Human Resource Manager, Nestle Nigeria PLC and Leader of the Team, Mr. Shakiru Lawal, said that the essence of the agreement is to provide employable and entrepreneurial opportunities for Nigerian youths with a view to reducing the rate of unemployment in the country.
While thanking the Federal Government for granting them the opportunity to partner on boosting youth employment, he called on Nigerian youths to take advantage of the training opportunities to up their skills for self development.
“We set for ourselves the huge objective of reaching 250,000 young Nigerians with employability and entrepreneurial skills within three years. As an alliance, we are committed to working together to address the challenges of youth unemployment in the country.
“As we continue to expand partnerships and collaborations, we are assured that we are on the right track to the actualization of our objectives,” he said.
