The Minister of State for Science and Technology, Barr. Mohammed Abdullahi, has called on government and the organised private sector (OPS) to initiate urgent interventions in order to engage Nigerian youths and make their lives more meaningful.
The minister said this when he gave a goodwill message at the Generation Unlimited Nigeria launch in Abuja, making reference to a disturbing 2020 report by the managing director of World Economic Forum (WEF), Saadia Zahidi, who said about 85 million jobs would be disrupted around the world in the next five years due to lack of skills, population, robotics, remote work etc.
Saying the future of 85 million persons globally comprising about 65million Nigerian youth was alarming and gloomy and needed to be arrested urgently, he commended the initiatives of Jobberman which is aimed at developing soft skills curriculum and placements to make our youths employable and capable of generating employment.
The minister also expressed joy that the Generation Unlimited platform was also aimed at creating better education, skills, employment and entrepreneur opportunities for young persons, describing the program as being at the heart of challenges facing the global youth population and hoping the initiative by UNICEF would help in bridging the gap.
“The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation is willing to partner with UNICEF in this direction especially in Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) as a tool to engage the youths meaningfully,” he said, adding the ministry would partner the organization to create sustainable and skilled youth manpower for job and wealth creation.
He thanked Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for his untiring efforts in addressing the challenges by churning out several youth’s engagement programs through the economic sustainability program.
