An unemployed man, Uba Okeugo, who allegedly defrauded Mrs. Juliet Ezeola of N100, 000, claiming he will wash and turn it into dollars, has appeared at an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos.
Okeugo, 32, whose address was not given, is facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence and stealing.
The prosecutor, Christopher John, told the court that the accused committed the offences with one other at large on October 18, at Pen Cinema, Agege, Lagos.
He said the accused met the complainant at a bus stop and lured her into an uncompleted building where he collected the N100,000.
“The accused and his accomplice told her that they would wash it into American dollars.
“They collected the money and left. Efforts by the complainant to locate them failed,’’ John said.
He said the complainant reported the matter to the police, who told her that the accused and his accomplice had been on their wanted list.
“The accused was later seen by the complainant at Agege. She shouted and passersby helped her to apprehend him, “the prosecutor said.
He said the offences contravened sections 280, 316 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The accused pleaded not guilty.
The Magistrate, Mrs. M. I. Dan-Oni, granted the accused bail at N50, 000 with two sureties.
She said they should show evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State government.
Dan-Oni adjourned the case till December 11 for mention.
An unemployed man, Uba Okeugo, who allegedly defrauded Mrs. Juliet Ezeola of N100, 000, claiming he would wash and turn it into U.S. dollars, has appeared at an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos.
Okeugo, 32, whose address was not given, is facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, obtaining by false pretences and stealing.
The prosecutor, Christopher John, told the court that the accused committed the offences with one other at large on October 18, at Pen Cinema, Agege, Lagos.
He said the accused met the complainant at a bus stop and lured her to an uncompleted building where he collected the N100, 000.
“The accused and his accomplice told her that they would wash it into American dollars.
“They collected the money and left. Efforts by the complainant to locate them failed,’’ John said.
He said the complainant reported the matter to the police, who told her that the accused and his accomplice had been on their wanted list.
“The accused was later seen by the complainant at Agege. She shouted and passersby helped her to apprehend him, “the prosecutor said.
He said the offences contravened sections 280, 316 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The accused pleaded not guilty.
The Magistrate, Mrs. M. I. Dan-Oni, granted the accused bail at N50, 000 with two sureties.
She said they should show evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State government.
Dan-Oni adjourned the case till December 11 for mention.
Al-Hikmah varsity produces 16 first- class graduates
Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Kwara State, at the weekend produced 16 first-class graduates.
Nine hundred and sixteen students graduated from the faith-based university at the 7th convocation .
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Taofeek Ibrahim, said: “They include 827 undergraduates and 89 postgraduates. At the undergraduate level, we have 16 first-class, 208 second-class upper, 434 second-class lower, 143 third class and 26 pass.
“This year’s results show improvement in academic performance.”
He said National Assembly members should be people from the business and public sector.
Ibrahim added that persons occupying the two hallowed chambers should not be former jobless people wanting to make money from the government.
He attributed Nigeria’s underdevelopment to corruption, saying: “Nothing is more responsible for our mismanagement and
maladministration than corruption.”
The VC said: “Governments should be more responsible, transparent and accountable to the citizens.
President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice- President Yemi Osinbajo, Economic and Financial Crime Commission’s (EFCC’s)
boss Ibrahim Magu, Custom’s Chief Executive Officer Hameed Ali and a few others should not be the only anti-corruption vanguards in this country.
“The exorbitant running of the government should not continue at the peril of the nationals. There is massive poverty, the country
is underdeveloped, people are suffering.”
He urged academics not to limit their research to academic prowess in scientific and literary writings.
His words: “We in the university need to move out of research and publications for mere evidence of our prowess in scientific and
literary writings, to research with ability to inform about useful and practical policies, life-impacting technological
innovations and development and ability to identify and solve problems confronting the community.
“Researches of tertiary institutions in the developed world drive the economies of industrialised nations.”
Victor Isiki has always looked for an opportunity to learn the art and science of paint production. Not satisfied as a mere painter, Isiki, who hails from Ogbia Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, had wished to be an expert producer of paints, perhaps owning a manufacturing company.
Coming from a poor background, Isiki, could not raise money to learn his favorite skill. He was once asked to pay N450,000 to learn the skill as an apprentice. At another time, Isiki was given a lower bill of about N150,000. Yet, he could not afford it. He gave up and resolved to continue his painting occupation.
But his hope was rekindled recently when he heard of a training and skill acquisition programme organised in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, by the Robert Sunday Iworiso Foundation (RSIF) in conjunction with Helping Hands International (H2i), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). He was thrilled when he went through the list of skills lined up by the two foundations.
Paint production was one of them. Other skills were perfume, disinfectant and liquid soap production, cake baking and bead making. Isiki leapt up in joy when he heard that the skill acquisition training was free. Participants were only required to attend the programme with only their writing materials.
Isiki learnt that Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the state Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, paid for the training in partnership with H2i. The CPS founded the RSIF in his efforts to immortalise his late father and keep his vision for humanity alive. Just like his late father, H2i and RSIF share the same vision of empowering people and making them financially independent.
So, a team of H2i known as Success Icon and led by Mrs. Abigail Odiegwu, mobilised expert trainers on skills of interest from Lagos to Yenagoa. The training lasted for three days. It was painstaking.
In fact, youths, elderly men and women dutifully attended the programme. The venue was congested with trainees, who came prepared to take advantage of the opportunity. It was indeed a busy period and Isiki attended all the programmes.
The trainees were happy to listen to the Commissioner for Chieftaincy and Community Development, Chief Saviour Ibegi, at the opening ceremony. Ibegi motivated them by going down memory lane to give them history of his humble beginning.
Ibegi lauded the RSIF and H2i for the initiatives saying wealth creation remained the best way out of poverty. He recalled that the late Iworiso stood for hard-work and commended the CPS for sustaining the legacies of his late father.
He said: “I knew the father of the chief press secretary. He was always found in the forest working. He was hardworking and he believed so much in empowering the people. This is the legacy his son is sustaining through his foundation. When you are good, your product will be good”.
He said the skills acquired from the training were capable of transforming the beneficiaries into business moguls and advised the trainees to take their skills to the next levels.
Addressing the trainees, he said: “See this as a big opportunity. From what you learn here, you can own a big manufacturing company. If a man comes up and asks you to create your own wealth, it looks impossible. It is just your mindset that will tel, you that it is impossible. But it works eventually. We have potential in all of you. Billionaires are wasting here”.
The people listened attentively. But they were thrilled when Iworiso-Markson walked in and spoke to them. He gave them a brief history of his life and how he rose from Ajegunle, a notorious Lagos ghetto to prominence.
He said he decided to engage and empower the youths and the jobless as the best way of honoring his late father. “I grew up in Ajegunle, but I made up my mind to work hard and here I am today”, he said.
He said the late father worked very hard to train his children, but regretted he died when they needed him to enjoy the fruit of his labour. He told them that poverty remained the worst disease and charged them to break the shackles of want.
Addressing them, he said: “If I can do it, you can do it too. Don’t be counted among the poor. Get rich for yourselves. There is nothing bad as having children and watching them thrown out of school because you cannot pay their school fees.
“This is the reason why I partnered with H2i to bring this training to you. Today is your day of little beginning because in future you will be celebrated if you take this day seriously.
“I am doing this in honour of my father because he was a very hardworking man. Today he is no more but I feel it is very important to keep his name alive by setting up this foundation to give back to the society just the same way he used to do.
“I want to urge you not to allow your present situation to hinder you from getting to the top. There is no short cut to success so I appeal to you to be serious with this training. Don’t be counted among the poor”.
The CPS promised to reward persons who came tops on their skills of choice. A H2i Three-time Minister and Success Icon Leader, Mrs. Abigail Odiegwu, motivated the trainees.
She said the training was motivated by a passion and love to empower people and make them self-reliant and financially independent. She said with such initiatives, the culture of begging would be eliminated in the society. According to her acquiring and applying basic skills would assist the government to diversify the economy.
She thanked the CPS for the partnership and encouraged other NGOs, companies and spirited individuals to partner with H2i to eliminate poverty. She encouraged the trainees to apply their knowledge and become the solution to the diversifying the economy.
“Instead of giving you fish, the chief press secretary in honour of his father has decided to teach you how to fish. The culture of begging will stop with this kind of initiative. We must commend the CPS for empowering the people”, she said.
Also in his remarks, H2i Amabsaddor, Lucky Okpara, who was represented by the foundation’s Double Minister, Mr. Otega Samuel, said H2i was founded to help lift people from poverty and financial stress.
He said the foundation renders humanitarian services, trade and skill acquisition, assets support services and scholarship services.
Isiki listened and took up the challenge. He learnt paint production and on the last day of the event, he bought all the materials and decided to demonstrate what he learnt.
The CPS, his wife and others in the audience watched as Isiki showcased his skills teaching them all the steps and stages of producing paints. He freely mentioned all the chemical names required in each process to the admiration of the crowd.
“I was asked to pay a lot of money to learn this. But I have learnt it today without paying a dime. I will remain eternally grateful to the CPS and his foundation for this opportunity. The trainers from Helping Hands International did a great job”, he said.
The CPS was moved and he immediately gave him a contract to produce paints for his three-bedroom bungalow. Others also came out to demonstrate the skills they learnt from the training. Many of them learnt liquid soap and perfume productions.
Also of significance is Blessing Dirinagha. After the training, she started making and selling liquid soap and disinfectant. “I have started selling my products. I am grateful to the CPS and the H2i. Now, I am planning to go to Lagos to buy raw materials in large quantity to help me move my business forward”, she said.
Vast opportunities abound for the unemployed in the tie and dye industry, which is gradually becoming a big business, providing jobs for many, writes Muyiwa Lucas.
Sam Oguntade, an artisan, took an early interest in cloth weaving. His interest in the trade was stimulated in his early days as a primary school pupil, when doing Art lessons, his teacher would practice the process of tie and dye on “Teru” – a local fabric.
• Some of Adire cloths
While the tie and dye industry has experienced its ups and downs in the past, the sector is back on the upswing. The reason for this is not far-fetched. With several Nigerians unemployed, the battle for survival has become more intense; hence, Nigerians are now looking inwards. For instance, due to the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), an initiative of the American government for African countries to export products to the United States, young Nigerians are now taking advantage of this. Tie and dye materials is benefiting from this, boosting the industry in the process.
Indeed, the tie and dye industry is very large and accommodative of new entrants. It doesn’t require certification, just the skill, which can be acquired on the job. Aside the production of the materials – kampala, batik, and adire, which are materials that are in vogue – there is a need for marketers and, may be exporters, of the finished products which enjoy patronage in Nigeria and beyond.
Adire, batik and kampala can be used for many things. However, they are mainly used in making clothes. They are also used as bed sheets, curtains and finishing for homes and offices for aesthetics. Given their variety of uses these days, both within and outside the country, the demand for the materials has increased with supply taking the back seat because that end of the chain is occupied mainly by ageing workforce begging for new hands.
Against this backdrop, the industry will welcome anyone who desires to come in as there are many windows of opportunity. Aside job creation, experts believe the industry can boost foreign exchange earnings if properly harnessed.
Although many have ventured into the trade in recent times, to earn a living and reduce the pressure on the labour market, the industry still needs more hands. Graduates, school leavers and even those without formal education can find their niches in the industry.
Experts said despite the limitless opportunities it offers for job seekers, the jobs cut across social strata. There’s something for everyone, no matter his/her qualification. Anyone venturing into the trade can become an employer of labour in no time. They advised the unemployed laying siege to offices for white collar jobs to take a chance with the trade. They assured that any new entrant would not regret it.
According to them, it is a good means of livelihood which provides substantial income daily. Moreover, both skilled and unskilled workers can create jobs. The jobs are not only in the tie and dye sector; textile manufacturers, dealers in clothing materials, producers of dyes and marketers benefit from the industry.
What does it take to become a tie and dye expert?
According to industry experts, the art of making Adire or Kampala is simple and flexible, although certain rules guiding the process has to be adhered to.
The Managing Director, Tye and Dye Limited, Mr Tayo Adebayo, said the market is expanding by the day. He said his National Certificate of Education (NCE) certificate could not fetch him a good job, hence, his decision to go into the production of adire and batik.
And he has not regretted his decision as people from diverse backgrounds come to his Ibadan office to give him jobs.
“The proceeds from the job are modest, but I have helped in training more than 100 people in the past five years. Some of my students are university and polytechnic graduates, who embraced the art to create jobs for themselves. While some of them have opened their own shops, others are working from their homes to meet customers’ orders. By and large, they have got a means of livelihood which I think will prevent them from depending on relations or parents for survival,” he said.
The art of making adire, Adebayo explained, is simple, but the prospective entrepreneur must have an eye for colours, and be observant with a higher level of concentration. Improper mixture of colours would affect the production quality.
Adebayo said adire first emerged in Abeokuta, a town noted for cotton production, weaving and indigo-dyeing in the 19th century.
He said adire oniko is believed to be the oldest adire method, stating that Yoruba and other West Africans taken to the US as slaves were said to have been familiar with the design.
On how to make designs, he said: “Areas of the fabric are tightly tied with thread (originally raffia, later cotton) to produce simple decorative designs. Several methods have traditionally been used. One of them is called Bullseye. The centre of the fabric is found and then the whole piece is twisted and tied, or the fabric is pleated with or without folding into segments and tied; then the fabric is dyed. The technique is quick, easy, and inexpensive to produce. It is so ubiquitous that dyers call the design ‘Tom, Dick and Harry.”
A more complicated version involving diagonal pleating is called sahada (possibly from al sahada, Arabic for “testimony.” This certainly would be an attractive choice to make into a muslim-style tunic,” he added.
Also, the Managing Director, SJ Tours Limited, Mrs. Abiola Ogunbiyi, said adire, batik, among other materials, are well sold at tourist centres. She said tourists buy such materials at higher price because of their unique nature. She said clothes of various sizes and designs are objects of attractions in tourist centres.
She said: “The tourism industry is growing well. New hotels are springing up daily. Many centres have been upgraded to meet the international standards. Tourists from different climes are visiting the country for one thing or the other to explore the beauty of Africa. Through this, they discover unique things about the culture, and dressing of Africans. Hardly can you get hotels in Nigeria without seeing well designed adire, or batik sold at a higher price. All these have multiplier effects on the economy.”
She said the demand for adire, kampala is growing in certain parts of the country where people use them for parties. Mrs. Ogunbiyi said people who have an eye for arts, love the textures and designs on adire among other materials in Nigeria, stressing that some buy and export the materials.
She urged job seekers to explore the window of opportunities opened in the industry to create jobs for themselves, adding that they can start with small capital.
“There is a lot of value chain in the industry. One is production of adire and other materials which I believe tourists like so much. This means an expanded market, which translates to more job opportunities,” she added.
A dealer in Adire in Osogbo, Osun State, Mr. Jacob Adeniyi said the annual Osun Osogbo Festival is usually attended by tourists from different parts of the world. Adeniyi said the demand for the materials is high during and after the festival, advising people to use the opportunity for growth.
“We are talking of huge unemployment rates in Nigeria. The universities are producing over 100,000 graduates every year. They have tickets (certificates) in their hands, but there are no jobs. Where would the jobs come from? It is high time graduates faced the reality and think of what they can do for themselves. To the best of my knowledge, there are enormous opportunities in the production of adire, among other materials that come with unique designs,” he said.
The number of Americans seeking first-time unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, but remains consistent with an economy that’s adding jobs.
Initial jobless claims increased by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 291,000 in the week ended March 14, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 292,000 new claims.
The Labor Department said there were no special factors impacting this week’s data.
The prior week’s level was revised up to 290,000 claims, from an initially reported 289,000. The four-week moving average for claims, which evens out weekly volatility, rose by 2,250 to 304,750 last week.
Claims, a proxy for layoffs, had trended down through most of last year and were just above a post-recession low in late January. Claims climbed in February to the highest level since May 2014, before steadying in recent weeks.
Other measures show a strong labor market. Employers added a seasonally adjusted 295,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department said earlier this month. That marked the 12th straight month U.S. payrolls grew by more than 200,000 jobs, the best streak since 1995. The unemployment rate was 5.5% last month, the lowest reading since May 2008.
The National Assembly has voted to give the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) the additional mandate of providing social security for the aged and unemployed.
The scheme currently has the responsibility to enforce the Employee Compensation Act (ECA), which ensures that employees who get injured or lose their lives in the line of duty are adequately compensated.
The new amendment, according to the NSITF, was passed by both chambers of the National Assembly on January 14, this year and is expected to be presented to President Goodluck Jonathan for assent.
Speaking about the additional role, Chairman of the Board of Directors of NSITF, Ngozi Olejeme, said its realisation was due to Federal Government’s unrelenting effort to improve the welfare of workers and vulnerable groups.
Olejeme said: “We know that the President will assent to the bill once it is presented to him. The implementation of the employees’ compensation scheme by the NSITF was an idea that was very dear to Mr. President.
“He wanted to ensure that workers that sustain injuries in the course of their duties are no longer left to their fate. The signing of the new national minimum wage law without hesitation shows that he is committed to bettering the lives of the Nigerian workers.
“These additional responsibilities of providing some forms of social safety net to unemployed and aged person will be done with passion and dedication. The NSITF is well-equipped to execute these new additions,” he said.
Managing Director of NSITF, Munir Abubakar, said the Federal Government has given the fund a huge task and its responsibility is to ensure smooth implementation. He said NSITF is ready for the task at hand.
The members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to hold interest rates at 0.5 per cent.
Average wages may not rise until the jobless rate has fallen to five per cent, a Bank of England policymaker has suggested.
Martin Weale said there may be more spare capacity in the economy than policymakers had previously estimated.
If so, it means employers have room to keep hiring for some time before they have to increase wages to attract scarce workers.
He said low wage growth could also keep interest rates at 0.5 per cent for longer than currently expected.
But he added policymakers should start to raise interest rates before any sustained rise in real wages occurred.
In a speech to business leaders at a Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference in Northern Ireland Dr Weale said for every one percentage point that unemployment was “above its equilibrium,” quarterly pay growth was likely to be 0.3 per cent lower “than it would otherwise be”.
He added: “If I put all of the weakness in wages over the past year down to the unemployment gap being larger than we currently believe, this points to extra spare capacity of over half a per cent of GDP.
“This is consistent with a medium-term unemployment rate closer to five per cent than our current range of six per cent to 6.5 per cent (the Bank’s current consensus estimate of the point at which employers will have trouble recruiting suitable people).”
In its February quarterly inflation report the Bank of England estimated there was between one per cent and 1.5 per cent of spare capacity in the UK economy, but Dr Weale’s remarks suggest that could be as high as two per cent.
It was President Barack Obama of the United States who said: “The most important investment any country can make is educating its youths and providing the skills to compete in a highly technological world economy”. He went on to add that countries that fail to do this are bound to fail. He was saying this against the backdrop of his country’s youths shying away from the sciences and innovations which has comfortably been taken over by Asian countries such as China, Japan, South Korea and India. America’s Silicon Valley is brimming with egghead innovators from these countries.
The world economy, I must emphasise, has become so technologically advanced that we may begin to wonder if we even have a place in it at all. I say this with all sense of humility because of the way we are treating education. How in the world do we expect the products of our institutions to compete with products from Chinese, Japanese, South Korean or South African universities? I can still recollect vividly – while in secondary school – when my teachers use to say Indian degrees were not worth the paper they are printed on! But today India is the preferred choice of medical tourism for hundreds of thousands of Nigerians. Some people got their hands dirty to make that possible.
Now back to the issue at stake. Unemployment is an issue that should give any right thinking government sleepless nights because of its negative impact on both the unemployed and society at large. Just like I concluded last week, it is even more challenging now given the fact that the landscape has changed radically and there’s the need for creative thinking by policy formulators.
I’m of the opinion that our youths should be motivated and taught that even though they, like their elders live under the wings of a state that cares little about them, there are escape windows even in Nigeria, but these windows are only for the discerning which unfortunately our epileptic education system does not showcase. If available statistics are anything to go by, the future may not look too good.
I came across OECD figures which suggest that 26million 15- to 24-year-olds in developed countries are not in employment, education or training; the number of young people without a job has risen by 30 per cent since 2007. The International Labour Organisation reports that 75million young people globally are looking for a job. World Bank surveys suggest that 262million young people in emerging markets are economically inactive. Depending on how you measure them, the number of young people without a job is nearly as large as the population of America (311million).
I mentioned last week CNN’s feature on “the lost generation of Europe” and how EU leaders have been brainstorming on creating jobs for its citizens. So it would be apt to state here that this is not an entirely Nigerian problem, but what the Economist termed a “global epidemic”. The statistics are scary globally. Fifty-five per cent of young black South Africans is jobless. This notwithstanding, there is something fundamentally wrong with an economy like Nigeria’s which has witnessed steady “growth” in the last three years yet cannot boast of creating jobs. It doesn’t take an economist to realise that you cannot create jobs where there are no industries; our real sector is simply non-existent.
However, one way to start tackling this issue is through technology which is capable of providing solutions, but at the same time it is also capable of exacerbating the problem. Let me explain with examples. Even though based in the United States, our youths can benefit from virtual programmes such as the “Serious games initiative” which can provide young people with a chance to gain “virtual” experience at minimum cost.
An initiative of the Woodrow Wilson Centre for International Scholars in Washington D.C., it is primarily concerned with ushering in a new series of policy education, exploration, and management tools utilising state-of-the-art computer game designs, technologies, and development skills.One of America’s top companies, McDonalds already uses competitive video games to teach people how to use the till and interact with customers. Another, Mozilla, the creator of the Firefox web browser, has created an “open badges” initiative that allows people to gain recognition for programming skills.
Technology is also making it easier to take work to people who live in work-deprived areas or who are shut out of the market. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, an internet marketplace, enables companies to hire workers to perform simple tasks such as identifying people in photographs. They can take part from anywhere in the world. That is why the age we are living in is referred to as the information age.
I can hear someone whispering: what about the majority that has never had access to the internet because of our peculiar situation? To them, I’d only advice they take the bull by the horn and not wait for a government that does not have plans for them, both now and in the future. It is quite unfortunate that we have graduates who have not come into contact with the most important tool in this age; the computer. What matters to me is not just the number of years of education people get, but it’s content. This means expanding the study of science and technology and closing the gap between the world of education and the world of work—for example by upgrading vocational and technical education and by forging closer relations between companies and schools.
There are examples for us to learn and borrow from. Germany’s long-established system of vocational schooling and apprenticeships does just that. Under it apprentices spend three to four days a week at a company providing vocational training where they acquire the practical skills required for their field of work. The remaining one or two days is spent at a vocational school, where they receive a theoretical grounding in their future job. The success of this programme has led other countries to follow suit: South Korea has introduced “meister” schools, Singapore has boosted technical colleges, and Britain is expanding apprenticeships and trying to improve technical education. Though we have our own SIWES programme, but the fact remains that since it has not made impact over the years meant it isn’t working.
The problem of youth unemployment has been getting worse for several years. But in some climes there reasons for hope as governments are trying to address the mismatch between education and the labour market. Companies are also beginning to take more responsibility for investing in the young. And technology is helping democratise education and training and we have to put our house in order so as not to be left behind.
However, there appears to be a general consensus, both at a global and national level that a “mismatch” has developed between the needs of many employers and the skills of both old and recent graduates. Indeed, some countries have recently experienced simultaneous unemployment increases and labour shortages, and particularly in sectors or workplaces that rely on new technologies. In light of this, there is an emerging recognition that emphasis should be placed on creating and promoting apprenticeship and similar “practical training” opportunities for youth, and that employers and workers’ representatives must be involved in formulating and implementing these programmes at the local level.
Among the potential solutions tabled by EU leaders in addressing their unemployment challenges, which we can equally learn from, was using the European Investment Bank as a mechanism for providing small businesses with loans, so they can hire. Job and training guarantee schemes were also agreed by member states as well as a plan to roll out six billion euro ($7.8 billion) to the hardest hit countries like Greece and Spain where more than half of the young workforce is standing idle.
The emphasis on small businesses here is fundamental because they need small capital to start and can be very effective in tackling the issue of unemployment. But unfortunately, this has been in the front burner for years in Nigeria without tangible results. Our banks are rather interested in ‘financing’ oil importation deals or the likes of the controversial bulletproof BMW cars that is causing a ruckus in the country. How sad.
