The reality of youth and poverty is that many young people around the world face poverty and other young people want to do something to help people facing poverty.
Private sectors in many ways play vital roles in the socio-economic development of countries, especially in the area of economic stimulation such as providing quality goods cum services and in job creation.
Poverty, no doubt, is one of the main consequences of unemployment in Nigeria and current statistics show it has been on the increase over the past years.
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) projected that Nigeria’s unemployment rate will hit 37 percent in 2023.
The group in its 2023 macroeconomic outlook report titled “Nigeria in Transition: Recipes for Shared Prosperity”, opines that the country’s poverty headcount will rise further to 45 percent, due to weak performance in the job-elastic sectors, and low labour absorption of sectors that will drive growth.
Furthermore, the nation’s population growth estimated at 3.2 percent will lead to a decline in real per capita income. The report also noted that the country’s GDP growth is expected to moderate to 2.98 percent, as economic growth will be subdued in 2023 due to strains on investment and low productivity in critical sectors.
This realisation has driven both profit and non-profit organisations of government and private sectors to establish means through which unemployment can be alleviated via empowerment programmes targeted at mostly the lower and median age group of the country that is the youths, averaging the age range of 18-40 years.
Youth empowerment programmes aimed at poverty alleviation is believed to be a vital medium to tackling the issue of unemployment.
Seplat Energy in this wise has positioned itself as one of the private sectors committed to the continuous empowerment of entrepreneurs in line with the federal government’s resolution to reduce unemployment amongst the youth.
In partnership with Conversation for Change (C4C), the firm has played vital roles in supporting young people, and alleviating poverty through its global entrepreneurship fellowship aimed at developing leadership skills, social entrepreneurship and business management abilities, among others.
The company explained that the graduates’ ability to action their ideas will be supported through equipment funding, as well as mentoring.
The company made this known during a lecture put together to further equip and develop the capacity of the 55 successful graduates since 2019, and the presentation of a cheque of ₦16.5 million in seed money for the new set of entrepreneurs under the Seplat JV/ C4C youth entrepreneurship programme.
Seplat youth empowerment programmes come in different shapes and sizes as they differ in eligibility, remuneration, training methods, skill acquisition, duration and overall quality to mention just a few.
The post-impact of these programmes is what matters the most and a case study found that empowering young people contributed significantly towards improving the standard of living of the respondents (87.7 percent) within the study area. Among the respondents, 73.5 percent were satisfied with the performance of youth empowerment schemes.
Others include: improved social skills, improved behaviour, increased academic accomplishment, increased self-esteem, and increased self-efficacy are all results of youth empowerment programmes.
All these and more enable beneficiaries of the empowerment schemes to have what it takes to earn a living for themselves, thus, reducing the unemployment rate in the country.
The essential fact is that nations that prioritise their youth populace will always accomplish great strides in nation-building and development. Hence, youth are an amazing and integral part of a nation’s population because they are not only symbols of the future but a nation’s real strength.
To empower a nation’s younger generation is to bring out its full potential. These schemes encourage a majority of the workforce to improve their acquired and latent skills thereby empowering them economically and giving them the confidence to contribute to the economic well-being of a nation at that young age.
With young people contributing their quota, society will be secure enough because an empowered youth will never become the bane of the society in which they live.
This societal quality is one that spawns as a result of the morals and values absorbed by an empowered youth. It creates a sense of responsibility and leadership skills in youths due to which they can feel and identify the actual practical problems of the society from which many people are suffering and offer remedies that work.
Every sector or arm of a functional society; be it political, business, education, military, health, civil or what have you, will function better with products of youth empowerment.
Consequently, Seplat has taken it upon itself to further push the agenda of youth empowerment, by joining a not-for-profit organisation like the C4C to support the empowerment of Nigeria’s youth in this programme.
Buttressing the essentiality of the programme, Arunma Oteh, former independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy said that the company’s approach to sustainability has put it on a very high pedestal amongst its peers, thus making the company a reference point in Nigeria and internationally.
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“The C4C programme presents an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to start right and build sustainable companies with enormous impacts, provide problem-solving solutions and unleash Nigeria’s enormous potential,” she added.
Oteh, speaking during activities that marked part of the 2023 graduation urged the youth entrepreneurs to focus on the long-term and build businesses that would outlive them, stressing that the benefits of good business structures cannot be overemphasised.
She commended Seplat Energy JV and its partner, C4C, for their strong commitment to youth empowerment in Nigeria, saying their activities have not only helped in reducing unemployment and ameliorating the level of poverty but have also contributed to economic growth and prosperity in the country.
Bello Rabiu, independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy pledged the company’s continuous commitment to encouraging and supporting entrepreneurship in Nigeria.
He reiterated that youth entrepreneurs are major change catalysts in any economy and that all hands must be on deck in the quest to empower them and therefore reduce the level of unemployment in the country.
Chioma Nwachuku, director of external affairs and sustainability at Seplat Energy said since 2019, C4C and Seplat Energy have worked together to ensure that the lives of young Nigerians are improved by supporting them to start and sustain their business enterprises.
And that the duo has successfully trained and supported 3 batches of fellows, which is about 55 young entrepreneurs who are thriving, creating value and boosting Nigeria’s economy.
“Each beneficiary has shown resilience, creativity and innovation through the duration of the yearly programme and has now become our proof of concept that could truly make Nigeria better by investing in the youth population,” she said.
Nwachuku in addition said; “From the selection process to intensive face-to-face training on key management aspects of business, participation in internship training with credible companies in their area of vocation and the support provided to each of their businesses, these activities of the fellowship programme have produced innovative and well equipped young social entrepreneurs, ready to take on the world of business and succeed.
“Seplat Energy CSR over the last 11 years have been hinged on the pillars of Health, Education, Infrastructural Development and Economic Empowerment. We believe that the greatest route to the economic growth of Nigeria is through economic empowerment of particularly the youth, women and underserved.”
The company through its various programmes has continued to equip and empower young Nigerians to not only be the leaders of tomorrow but also to be the agents of change for their generation.
Seplat has not only helped young vibrant youths through empowerment but they have also ensured continued support for each and every one of the youths who was empowered.
They have also made sure that these empowered youths have succeeded in their various business activities and ensured that they made enormous changes through methods that have proven successful over the years, such as: performing monitoring and evaluation to track the success of these young startups and continuous support on an ongoing basis from an entrepreneurship resource/support centre.
These methodologies have resulted in the establishment of a variety of businesses in diverse fields and a growing network of entrepreneurs.
In the grand scheme of things and at the heart of all this is the idea of sustainability, of devolution of development, one which says it is not up to the government alone, but rather one for organisations with proven capacity for adding value to communities.
It’s also about devolution of development in the sense that those who are today empowered will in turn empower others with the knowledge and resources that their own empowerment avails them. This is the charitable value Seplat Energy incorporates towards achieving its youth empowerment scheme; one that fosters the idea that the youth are capable of incredible things when empowered.
This is key in battling and conquering unemployment in Nigeria.
