…Set to provide 20 million Nigerians with digital, entrepreneurial skills
By IJEOMA UKAZU
In a bid to reduce unemployment rate among Nigerian youths, the Federal government and the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF have launched Generation Unlimited Programme, GenU targeting 20 million young persons in the country by 2030.
The programme, which is offering expanded education, training and employment to youths from the ages of 10-24 years, is expected to positively impact the country’s future job growth enablement.
Making the commitment at the official launch of Generation Unlimited in Abuja, Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo said this this scheme will link them with digital skills, entrepreneurial and other job opportunities and assist them in realizing their potentials.
He hinted that Nigeria has one of the world’s largest young populations, failure to invest in them would have unfathomable implications.
According to him, ” In the next couple of years, we will provide digital training, employment, Entrepreneurship and engagement with 20 million Nigerians”.
Osinbajo also noted that “This process is not only significant for the socio-economic development of the country in the coming years but also provides a learning landscape for developing future job growth-enabling programmes.
“The Generation Unlimited is an initiative of UNICEF launched in September 2018 in collaboration with over 200 partners. It was designed to link over 1 billion young people with innovations and programmes in 40 countries across six continents.
“It is part of the ambitious goal of reaching young Nigerians with those opportunities, we can’t achieve the objectives without strong partnerships, the presidency, the Federal Ministries and the state governments will be collaborating with Generation Unlimited Nigeria, the private sector, the international community and the young people themselves to make this a reality.
” After extensive consultation with critical stakeholders, it was agreed that GenU Nigeria will have three key components, digital skills development, and youth engagement. Youth employment especially the empowerment of female entrepreneurs is a major aspect of GenU Nigeria”, he added.
Earlier the UNICEF Country representative, Peter Hawkins, said, Generation Unlimited, Gen U is a global multisector partnership aimed at supporting the over 1.8 billion youth globally with relevant and future-proof skills, thereby connecting them to entrepreneurship and employment opportunities, and supporting them change the world for themselves and their communities.
He stated that “Nigeria, being the largest African economy has one of the largest young populations in the world, and youth unemployment at 37 percent. This represents an extraordinary opportunity for development and growth.
It’s in view of this that the Gen U is embarking on a mission to reach 20 million youths in 10 years with quality education, skills training, employment, entrepreneurship opportunities, targeting girls and adolescents from underserved communities, including those living with disabilities in Africa’s largest economy.
“In 2020, Gen U Nigeria conducted a country investment agenda to help all stakeholders understand the missing Opportunities in the continuum of how young people are equipped and enabled to become productive and engaged citizens in society through formal and informal learning.
|In line with this, Gen U Nigeria identified 3 core interventions which will focus on Digital connectivity also called “NaijaConnect” with emphasis on GIGA (connecting every school and learner to the internet) and digital skills development Work readiness programme with an emphasis on apprenticeship Youth engagement and participation which gives young people their voice and agency.
“Gen U Nigeria recorded some milestones which include: winner of the Gen U Global Youth Challenge competition in the education category where Team MUDA, a group of 4 young people in Maiduguri came up with an innovative idea called Street2School a social enterprise initiative that provides vulnerable young people (10-20 years) from marginalized communities across North East Nigeria access to basic foundational (literacy and numeracy), soft skills and life skills through a blended online and offline community learning hub.
“The Youth Market Place called YOMA launched by UNICEF and partners is a digital marketplace where youths can develop their skills, find opportunities, and achieve impact while connecting to peers in a supportive community through learning to earn platform. Presently, over 400,000 Nigerian youths have been reached, more than 7000 online innovated challenges and 1000+ Jobberman Soft Skills certificates issued completed.
“More than 8000 data and airtime rewards redeemed and over 45 youth mentorship sessions”.
He lamented that youths today face many economic, social and cultural challenges.
Hawkins said, “The types of skills needed in the labour market are changing. Technological changes are making many jobs vulnerable to automation and a large portion of job creation is driven by entrepreneurs and small businesses, while education systems are outdated and fragmented.
“These challenges are more acute for young people in disadvantaged communities and with Nigeria having 65.6 million people aged 10-24, Nigeria has one of the largest young populations in
the world, representing an extraordinary opportunity for development and growth. Nigeria’s unemployment rate is 23 per cent, among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, with youth unemployment at 37 per cent – almost double that of the national rate”.
He said implementation would be tailored to state priorities, 5millon youths would be trained in Entrepreneurship, 1 million on data and analytic, 5 million on agri-business, 2million on supply and logistics, 5 million on job matching, and 2 million youths would be trained in communication and transportation.
The pilot states are; Edo, Kano and Lagos State and their governors embraced the gesture and pledged their support.