Experts in the human resources and career sectors have called on the federal government to create a conducive operating environment for businesses to thrive and arrest the menace of unemployment and the allure of searching for greener pastures abroad by Nigerian youths.
The experts spoke at the Lagos Career Fair organised by Covenant Capital of the Covenant Nation themed ‘The 21st Century Workplace: Adapting to the Changing Dynamics’ over the weekend.
Mezuo Nwuneli, co-founder and managing partner of Sahel Capital, charged the government to create the enabling environment to ensure that businesses can thrive and in turn create more job opportunities.
“It is very critical to ensure that you create the right environment that businesses can thrive in,” he said.
“And from a policy perspective, the more that policies are structured to encourage business, for capital availability for businesses to grow and expand, the better for the nation and will also ultimately aid job creation, and create not just any job opportunity but one that pays well.”
Similarly, Gbolahan Joshua, group chief operating officer at FCMB Group, called on the government to provide an enabling environment and policies that are geared towards business sustainability.
He urged the government to continue to do more in the area of investing in education to ensure that its youths are equipped with the right skills needed by businesses.
“Education requires some level of funding and partnerships. There’s no country in the world where the government doesn’t support education,” he said.
On his part, Obafemi Darabidan, head of Covenant Capital Department disclosed that the idea of the Career Fair stemmed from the need to respond to a need which is about job creation.
He opined that there is a need to do more beyond complaining about the notion that there are no jobs.
He added that by speaking to entrepreneurs or employers of labour, there is a consensus that there are jobs but not enough employable people to fill those opportunities.
“Based on the directive from Pastor Poju Oyemade, we thought it wise to also create a platform where those employees can be trained. They can be prepared for those opportunities and also invite the owners of those opportunities to meet.
“So, this whole thing is a platform for the meeting of the prepared employee and also the employer who has those job opportunities.” “It is to facilitate that meeting which is why we started this by introducing the preparatory classes, which are the master classes. We ran that for four weekends.”
Aimede Ikhenebome, deputy HOD at Covenant Capital, said that the career fair and similar events align with The Covenant Nation’s overall agenda to empower entrepreneurs.
In her words, “Our mission at Covenant Capital is to empower entrepreneurs by providing both financial and advisory assistance. We believe in the power of role modeling and financial empowerment as tools to uplift our communities,” Ikhenebome said.
“The success stories and positive feedback we’ve received from this career fair reinforce our commitment to this cause and inspire us to continue our work with even greater dedication.”
