Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos State, has urged young Nigerians to take advantage of available opportunities presented by the Lagos State Employability Trust Fund (LSETF) through its Employability Support Project and acquire vocational skills of their choice at no cost in order to equip themselves.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony of 1,300 youths trained by LSETF in Lagos in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the commissioner for education Folashade Adefisayo, said over 60 percent of Nigeria’s population is made up of young people under the age of 35 and for the future of the country , they have to be well-equipped to lead.
He commended the LSETF and the UNDP for successfully completing the project, adding that the future of the country is promising.
He said the two organisations would comfortably provide Lagos workforce with young and skilled manpower for the next 30 years, which will improve productivity.
“By training over 4,500 youths in different vocational skills while placing 1,707 in sustainable jobs, there is no doubt that this project puts us in a position to achieve laid-down agenda in building a greater Lagos, and these are necessary steps in achieving sustainable development aims of full employability for youths—both women and men— by 2040,” Sanwoolu said.
“We must be honest to admit that the reality today is that we do not have enough young people with employable skills that would make them globally competitive to take advantage of employment opportunities. Even blue-collar employment opportunities are quickly snapped up by the more skilled personnel from our neighbouring countries. We have to fix it and to fix this challenge,” he said.
“And to fix this challenge, there is a need to adequately equip our youth with world-class vocational skills to actualise their potential,” he added.
Ifueko Omoigui Okauru, chairman, LSETF, represented by Dele Martins, member of the board of trustees, said it is necessary to equip the youth for the future, adding that with right mentoring and capacity building, Nigerian youths can add value to themselves, their families and the nation at large.
She pointed out that one of the key objectives of the programme is to ensure that many youths are equipped with capacity building and skills in order to alleviate the shortage of skilled workforce in the state, adding that the project is part of the government’s agenda of ‘Building a Greater Lagos’.
“In the last 2 years, we have contributed significantly in reducing the unemployment rate in Lagos to 14.6 percent, one of the lowest in the country, despite youths migrating to Lagos regularly seeking greener pastures with opportunities to participate in Nigeria’s commercial hub,” Okauru said.
“Since inception we have trained and certified 4,503 young people with 1,707 of them placed in jobs. In addition, we have over 350 employers of labour who have registered to source and access and employee manpower from our pool of beneficiaries,” she disclosed.
Mohamed Yahya, resident representative of UNDP in Abuja, represented by Muyiwa Odele, UNDP team leader, Environment and Sustainable Development, said the project was designed for a 2-year period, with the aim of addressing unemployment challenges faced by youths in Lagos State and is targeted at the unemployed aged between 18 and 45 years, with special consideration for women.
Gbemi Faminu
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