With unemployment rate standing at about 25 per cent, Lagos’ Apex Lion Club President Mrs. Cynthia Saka fears it could spell disaster for the economy. Consequently, she is taking steps to teach youths and others about recycling and green initiatives and how they can make a living, DANIEL ESSIET reports.
From used oil recycling to upcycling old toys, there is a campaign to get young Nigerians to develop an eco-aware attitude. This is done in a number of ways; from explaining the basics of selective recycling to teaching them various ways to reduce waste. A major reason for this is to address the growing youth unemployment put at about 25 per cent.
One of those in this campaign is Lagos Apex Lion Club President Deaconess Cynthia Saka, who fears the rate of unemployment could go higher with the economy in short supply of white-collar and low skilled- jobs. It is in line with the Lions’ Club’s objectives.
Mrs. Saka is determined to support the government in scaling up responses to youth unemployment and underemployment crisis. She spoke after her investiture as president of Lagos Apex Lion Club.
Nigeria has a serious waste problem and produces thousands of tonnes of solid waste every day, but inadequate laws and lack of resources mean that only a few are collected. The rest ends up on the streets, where it blocks drains, encourages vermin, and spreads diseases.
She sees plastic littering the streets, clogging the sewers and encroaching into homes. She believes waste is a resource because it is churned out in abundance and it can be harnessed to build up into a thriving business in the process.
Her plan is to help youths turn trash into products and build sustainable businesses that address waste issues – while also providing skilled green jobs.
She said waste plastics have detrimental impact on the community, environment and human health and even on agricultural land, hence the need to recycle them and help Nigerians transform them into money.
According to her, green entrepreneurship is going to form an integral part in her fight against youth unemployment due to the low entry-level requirements.
She said promoting youth self-entrepreneurship and creativity in the field of waste re-use and management is definitely an indispensable investment, not only to pave way for new ideas and service improvements, but also to rethink future resource management in a perspective increasingly sustainable.
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Mrs. Saka is already training youths on waste plastics recycling. She wants to train many Nigerians on it to reduce unemployment, fight poverty and reduce idleness, saying this will be achieved through practical, high-impact solutions aimed at creating opportunities via education and training.
According to her, the club understands that partnerships and collaborations are the bedrock of success and the drivers of sustainable impact. To this end, she said the club will work to facilitate the partnerships necessary to solve the youth unemployment problem. She promised to take the club to greater heights, even as she gave assurance that all club projects for the less privileged in the society, would be completed.
The District Governor 404-2 (2019-2020),Lion Wesley Kafidiya, stressed that the Lions Clubs worldwide is charged to be at the forefront of transformational change in their communities, despite economic, social and political challenges.
Lions Club International is an International secular, non-political service organisation founded by Melvin Jones in 1917. As of April 2015, it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members in over 200 countries around the world.
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