Nigerian Youths Unemployed Because They Lack Skills- Sunday Dare

The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has said that many Nigerian youths lack both digital and vocational skills, hence are not employable.

The minister said his argument explains the increase in youth unemployment despite the huge resources and initiatives of the government.

Dare said this during a  Channels Tv programme, ‘Politics Today,’ organised in commemoration of the 2021 ‘International Youth Day’ which was monitored by THE WHISTLER .

Nigeria’s unemployment rate since President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has risen to 33.3 per cent which implies that over 23 million Nigerians are unemployed according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

One of the administration’s agenda was to at least reduce the country’s unemployment level to a single digit through massive job creation.

Dare said, “We are trying a reset in the sense that emphasizes not just certificates, but that emphasizes skills- vocational and technical skills. That is the future of decent jobs by the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations, the emphasis is making sure that we have technical and vocational skills.

“There are jobs out there that some of our graduates and young people can not take up because these jobs are digital jobs. Unless you have this added advantage or digital skill, you cannot pick up these jobs.

“And that is why the focus right now is making sure that we provide our youths with the digital skills they need to compete. Even when you go out of the country, as a Nigerian youth, you are going to need this digital knowledge and skills.”

The minister also admitted that infrastructural issues have also complicated Nigeria’s unemployment woes.

Dare said, “Without giving any excuses, it is a function of resources. When you also go to other countries where you find unemployment stabilizing, maybe for a while, it is a collaborative effort on the part of the government, on the part of private corporations working together and on the part of international NGOs working together.

“On our part here you have seen the government trying to allocate resources. There are competing resources, it is a huge country 210 million people, the youth form a large part of this population.”