The Nation Newspaper

Tag: unemployment

  • Unemployment: CIPM’s report sees MSMEss, others as solution

    Unemployment: CIPM’s report sees MSMEss, others as solution

    Worried by the rising unemployment, the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) has urged the government to stem the tide in line with the report of its committee, reports Bukola Bolajoko.

    Nigeria has been battling with a huge population of unemployed, or under-employed youths. This has prompted successive governments’ demonstrating highe resolve in the promotion of entrepreneurial skills, bearing in mind that the much desired boom and diversification of the nation’s economy can only be achieved through a buoyant Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME) sector which thrives on entrepreneurship.

    Efforts by past administrations have brought about the emergence  of agencies and institutions such as the National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND) in 1989, with an initial capital outlay of N300million, Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) in 1990 with paid-up capital of N1.367billion, the Peoples Bank in 1990 with N330million,

    Also in the basket of job creation initiatives

    were the Capital Market and the formulation of a policy in 1990 that promoted the establishment of Community Banks, which was later amended to give birth to Micro-Finance Banks (MfBs) in 2006. The Bank of Industry (BoI) was another financial institution created to promote the aforementioned in a bid to tackle unemployment.

    The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) which was created in response to the austerity measures, following the adoption and implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)  and the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategies (NEEDS), are two additional agencies created by past administrations to address the huge percentage of the unemployed, and as well reduce the dependency on government for job and wealth creation.

    Despite these past efforts and ongoing ones, the reality on ground  is that, the national unemployment statistics showed that 25.1per cent Nigerian youths are still unemployed (NBS, 2015), with some 35 per cent underemployed.

    This gloomy picture has prompted the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), being the professional body backed by law to regulate the practice of human resource management in the country, to conduct  research into the causes of the prevalent rise of unemployment level in Nigeria. The feedback from the research was further validated at focus group discussion held early in the year to identify and clarifya list of causal factors of unemployment.

    Not surprising, policy inconsistency ranked highest in the report. According to the research, this rated as the most significant factor responsible for unemployment in Nigeria. This prompted a call for a critical analysis of the applicability and sustainability of public policies, before and whilst being formulated, as well as calling for more realistic and pragmatic policies that can truly impact a sustainable drive aimed at significantly reducing unemployment levels.

    Poor political governance and setting of policy direction which elicits harsh operating business environment, was also reported as a major cause of unemployment as its effects leaves many organisations reducing their employees, and fueling joblessness.

    Emeritus Prof Pai Obanya echoed this,  stressing the need for government policies to address youth unemployment. He said this would help prevent the present youth bulge in the population from becoming a time-bomb.

    Other causal factors listed in the report include; a lack of stakeholders’ own-able employment policy, as well as misalignment of educational system output and skills set mostly demanded by employers, causing a predominantly sub-optimal quality of graduates.

    In addition, the report said inadequacy of data of unemployed and underemployed people, has been identified as a key factor. The obvious difficulties in accessing timely and accurate data on either employed, or under employed persons causes a widening gap on effecting technological advancement, social, cultural, religious and other metrics that can be devised in curbing the unemployment scourge.

    According to the CIPM research report, echoed by its President and Chairman of Governing Council, Anthony Arabome, there is need and indeed a strong call for reforming the educational sector to include enforcing high educational standards, full implementation of technical and vocational education, and determined vigour at promoting the Federal Government’s policy on entrepreneurship education.

    The call, he said, is also strong for accessible financial support to start-ups and existing businesses; provision of a social scheme to support nascent businesses; creation of a healthy competitive environment that gives rewards and consideration for innovation, as well as provision of incentives for selected industries with potential capacity to create more jobs.

    The report also canvassed availability of accessible grants for MSMEs, either for start-up or for expansion, and creation of employment opportunities in conducive environments, including rural areas, will be crucial for the country in achieving an optimal employment level.

    In progressing this great initiative, the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management, through findings made by its committee on the Management of National Unemployment Challenge (MNUC), is committed to the engagement ofkey stakeholders across the private and public divide, including the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, and the Presidency for an adoption of its recommendations.

    Its engagement would project the importance and value of these findings and the associated recommendations to all stakeholders at all levels for full acceptance and implementation, he Registrar/CEO, CIPM, Sunday Adeyemi, said.

  • Entrepreneurship key to ending unemployment, says Minister

    Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu said that entrepreneurship holds the key to solving the mounting unemployment challenges of the country.

    He spoke on the occasion of National Conference on Entrepreneurship Education at Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic Uwanna  Afikpo, Ebonyi state.

    The programme was held by the institution in conjunction with the National Board for Technical Education. Adamu who said that entrepreneurship is key to  survival in the present knowledge based economy urged students, graduates and unemployed youths to embrace entrepreneurship as  a way out of  unemployment.

    According to the Minister who was represented by a Director in the Ministry Dr. Chimezie Aguiyi, in an effort to combat Youth Unemployment and Eradication of Poverty, the National Council on Education (NCE) approved the mainstreaming of entrepreneurial education into the Senior Secondary Schools Curriculum in 2012.

    He said: “The NCE also made it compulsory for students to offer at least one trade and entrepreneurial subject at the senior secondary education level”. “Some states have challenges with the implementation of the Trade and Entrepreneurship component of Senior Secondary Education Curriculum”.

    “The concept of education stems from the realisation that education is not only a tool of impacting knowledge, ability to read and write nor investment in human capital or an index towards economic development of the nation, but also an avenue for the acquisition of values, attitude, skill and knowledge needed in impacting positive change in the immediate and larger environment; as well as the development of an individual to appreciate the dignity of labour.

    Earlier, the Rector of Akanu Ibiam Federal Poly Unwanna Ven. Ogbonnia  Ibe-enwo urged graduates not to be job seekers but job creators by engaging in entrepreneurship, adding that white colar jobs which they have been relying on is no longer available.

  • Unemployment summit holds September

    Arrangements have been concluded to hold the Worldstage Economic Summit (WES) 2016, in Lagos, from September 7- 8, 2016, to address Nigeria’s unemployment challenges.

    According to the President/CEO, World Stage Limited, organisers of the summit, Mr Segun Adeleye, “the alarming rate of unemployment in Nigeria was not only of great concern to government, but also to the private sector and other critical stakeholders in the economy on job creation.

    With about 22.4 million Nigerians unemployed or underemployed, out of the 76.9 million labour force, he said some people see it as an indictment on the educational system that seems to be churning out ‘unemployable graduates,’ while others see it as an economic deficiency, with economy having a limitation of the labour force it can sustain by its productivity.

    Adeleye said Nigeria’s unemployment rate of 10.4 per cent represents about 14 per cent of global unemployment in fourth quarter 2015, and is the seventh highest in the world with only Kenya, Congo and Djibouti having worse rates in Africa.

    “This should be embarrassing when compared with countries such as Qatar (0.2 per cent) unemployment rate, Cambodia (0.3 per cent), Belarus (0.5 per cent), Thailand (0.8 per cent), Benin (1.0 per cent), Madagascar (1.2 per cent), Laos (1.40 per cent) and Guinea Bissau (1.80 per cen),” he said.

    He said the statistics that job loss in Nigeria dropped by only 1.29 per cent in Q4 2015 at a period when oil price crashed by 65 per cent could only show that there are other inherent factors outside oil that shape the labour market, which will be reviewed at the event.

  • Expert decries rising youth unemployment

    Renowned economist, Dr. Olu Olasode, has expressed worry over rising rate of youth unemployment in the country, saying this can precipitate unimaginable humanitarian crisis if not checked.

    Olasode who spoke in Abuja at the weekend, emphasised the need for clear economic reforms and integration of initiatives to boost employments and social well-being of citizens.

    “It is clear that no sustainable development is possible in a country threatened by internal insecurity, crisis and conflicts. Development, therefore, relies heavily on the state of a nation’s security,” he said.

    Given the significant role played by Nigeria in the West African sub region and the continent as a whole, the don stressed that a framework which integrates and emphasises security sector reform, economic diversification, food and environmental security, job creation and good governance, becomes inevitable.

  • Checking youth unemployment

    Checking youth unemployment

    Nigeria’s army of unemployed youths is giving experts sleepless nights.  The issue, they said, must be urgently addressed because of its dire consequences for crime and poverty. To them, a multi-pronged approach that addresses educational and skills deficiencies, and creates opportunities for the young, would check the situation, reports KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE

    The problem of youth unemployment is attracting global attention.  The issue has been discussed at many local and international forums, with political and economic leaders raising the alarm about the huge population of youths (about 30 percent worldwide) without jobs and the likelihood of that population exploding exponentially in the next decade.

    Alhaji Aliko Dangote was one of those who raised concerns about the problem at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last year.  He described the situation as dangerous.

    With youths aged between 15 and 24 making up to about 64 million of Nigeria’s population, Nigeria is considered one of the 10 youngest countries in Africa.  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) put the percentage of unemployed youths in Nigeria between 60 and 80 per cent.  The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) puts the rate of unemployment for youths aged 15-34 at 12.1 per cent; and underemployment at 19.1 for the first quarter of this year.

    At the second annual Blossom Career and Entrepreneurship Summit held at The Havens in Ikeja on June 2, with the Theme: “Curriculum Re-Examination: Skills Opportunities & the Dilemma of Academic Ambitions”, Mr Uyi Akpata, Country Senior Partner, Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), listed poor education as one of the factors contributing to the unemployment challenge.  Many employers, he said, complain about skills gap in graduates.

    “Deficient school curricula and poor teacher training (contributes) to the failure of educational institutions to provide their students the appropriate skills to make them employable,” he said.

    Quoting a YouthSpeak report based on a worldwide survey conducted by AIESEC (an international youth leadership group) and PwC on education, Akpata said that 53 per cent of the 42,257 respondents (many of them Nigerians) expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of education they received, complaining that it did not prepare them adequately for economic opportunities.

    “They are certain about the relevance of an educational experience for their future, but is greatly disconnected from the satisfaction and value they are getting in return.  At the same time, students are not getting the guidance and support to understand what they will need for their ideal post-graduation careers,” said Akpata, quoting the report.

    Emeritus Professor at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Olugbemiro Jegede, warned that failure to address the problems caused by poor education and unemployment would exacerbate the security and social crisis Nigeria is currently experiencing.

    “No development can meaningfully take place unless you build our assets in human resources. This is what Nigeria requires to drive its rise toward an industrial revolution,” said Jegede in his keynote address at the summit.

    He recommended that the government, supported by corporate organisations and individuals should come up with an array of programmes to “harness this demographic dividend to national advantage.”  He said the programmes should build skills, connect youths with the labour market through career and entrepreneurship meetings or workshops, promote learning using technology, all with the support of the private sector.

    The youth unemployment and skills gap problem has not escaped the notice of governments at various levels, corporate organisations and even individuals leading to a variety of initiatives to address the problem through employment, entrepreneurship and other initiatives.

    At the Federal Government level, the N-Power Massive Graduate & Mid-level Job Recruitment is another initiative expected to absorb 600,000 unemployed youths into the labour market and reduce the unemployment burden.  The recruitment of graduates is ongoing.

    While the N-Power programme addresses unemployment, the Lagos State’s Ready, Set, Work initiative, which took off last Saturday at the Lagos State University, LASU, hopes to address the problem of skills gap, unemployment and enhance entrepreneurship – though for a considerably smaller number of beneficiaries.

    The initiative focuses on general, employability and entrepreneurial training for 500 final year students of three tertiary institutions owned by the state (LASU; Lagos State Polytechnic, LASPOTECH; and Lagos State College of Health Technology).

    Special Adviser to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Education, Mr Obafela Bank-Olemoh, whose office is driving the project in collaboration with an array of private sector partners, notably PwC, told The Nation that the 13-week training is aimed at changing the mindset of the participants about entitlement mentality and attitude to work as well as equipping them with skills that would make them attractive to employers.

    The participants can only graduate from the scheme if they attend 21 of the 24 sessions of the programme and complete all required assignments and projects; and late-coming is not allowed.  Bank-Olemoh said the government is keen to run this programme well to expand opportunities to more graduates next year.

    “In the third quarter of 2015, 1.9 million people entered into the job market.  In that same quarter, only 427,000 jobs were created.  Prvate sector has told us that the graduates we are churning out are not employable.  So, what we are trying to achieve with the Ready, Set, Work is to prepare people who are work ready so that by the time they leave, they get jobs.  We graduate 4,500 students yearly from our institutions but we could not fund the project for all of them.  However, we hope that we would be able to take more next year, and that based on the performance of this set, next year, we would get more internship slots,” he said.

    Each Saturday, the programme would open with a mentoring session taken by chief executives of blue chip companies in Nigeria before the students resume in their various classes (A-D).  For the next four weeks, they would all take the general module which covers personal re-orientation, labour market, time management, teamwork, critical thinking.  Afterwards, they would be divided into employability and entrepreneurship streams for the rest of the programme.

    Last Saturday, Bank-Olemoh took the mentoring session in a paper titled: “No Excuse to Fail” in which he sensitized the students to the roles they have to play to ensure their own success in life.

    At the end of the programme, Bank-Olemoh said the best of those who undergo the employability training would be placed on internships with good companies (only 60 slots currently available), while those with good ideas from the entrepreneurship stream would get seed grants from the N25 billion Lagos State Employment Trust Fund.

    Even though not all of the participants get internship placements or seed funding, Bank-Olemoh said the programme is expected to groom them to shine wherever they go.

    Emmanuel Iroaya, a 400-Level Computer Science student of LASU is positive about that goal.  After going through the first module, he told The Nation he already felt empowered.

    “I am very happy about this.  It is just about chaining the mindset of graduates.  We believe that things are very tough out there but I now know that with hard work and initiative I can create a better environment for myself outside school.  Everyone will get something from this programme, even if we are not all selected for internship at the end of the day,” he said.

    Beyond training and employment opportunities, Abimbola Daramola, who represented Ekiti North Federal Constituency I in the House of Representatives between 2010 and 2012, said the government ought to provide safety social nets for students and young graduates because of economic hardship.

    To this end, Daramola launched the Nigerian Students and Youth Corps Discount Card, aka the Naija Green Card in March to enable students and youth corps members access goods and services at discounted rates of between 1 and 50 per cent.  He said he initiated the concept because with the cash crunch, many state governments cannot afford social programmes.

    Daramola told The Nation in an interview that the concept is not actually new as it is in practice in countries like the United States of America, United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Ghana.

    He said: “An average student in the higher institution only goes to school when his or her parents have a margin of income. And today, 27 state governments- I am doing reality check for you- cannot pay salaries. They are taking another bail out now, which some people would eat.

    “Is it government that cannot pay salaries that will give grants, scholarships and support scheme to students? No, because they cannot afford it, some sincerely so. Today, we also realize the fact that what N10,000 could buy three months ago, it cannot buy it today. And then you send these students back to school, against this big picture, how do you want them to stay focused in school? They are confronted on daily basis by challenges of every Nigerian. But then, theirs is even more.

    “Then you come to youth corps members; theirs case is even more instructive. They have come out of school; their parents have said thank God, this one has come out of school. But the reality of things is that how far can they go with N19,450?

    “So I said ok, why don’t we do what people have done in organized countries? Why don’t we have a discount card for Nigerian students? The idea of the discount card is that what you used to buy for N10,000, by the time, we interface with those people (organizations) who are doing it, we can get some discounts – get them to agree as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – to sell for less.  So your margin of profit may reduce but it is more over volume, because it will direct traffic there.”

    Beyond providing training and palliative measures, experts say it is important to restructure the training curriculum in schools to meet employers’ expectations.

    To this end, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) is partnering with the Federal Ministry of Education to incorporate entrepreneurship education into the curriculum at secondary school level.

    Throwing more light on the initiative, Mr Francis Ukoh, a UNIDO representative, said: “UNIDO is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Education to mainstream entrepreneurship education through the development and introduction of entrepreneurship curriculum into secondary schools as a part of formal education. UNIDO’s entrepreneurship programme is designed for youth to develop a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship, business and self-employment, so that they can take up successful careers of their choice in business at the end of their course. The entrepreneurial attitudes, attributes and skills the youth acquire at academic and technical schools enable them to appreciate different types of economic opportunities, such as industry, services, trade, agriculture etc as well as developing a drive to succeed in whatever they choose to do.

    “UNIDO in collaboration with ITF has successfully conducted a skills gap study to investigate the demand/supply skills requirement in the industrial sector with high employability potentials. The report of which will be used to guide curriculum development by career counseling departments in Universities, Polytechnics, Monotechnics and private organizations who are engaged in capacity building programmes.”

  • ‘Unemployment, job losses depleting pension funds’

    ‘Unemployment, job losses depleting pension funds’

    The Federal Government is eyeing the N5.4 trillion pension funds to develop infrastructure. But the fund is dwindling because of unemployment and joblessness, according to Usman Suleiman, Future Unity Glanvills Pensions Limited (FUG Pensions) Managing Director. The number of Contributors to the Retirement  Savings Account (RSA) has reduced because of retrenchment, he notes. He tells Omobola Tolu-Kusimo that there has to be a template to take care of long term investment, safety and returns on investment (RoI) if pension funds must be used for infrastructure development.

    How would you assess the economy against the backdrop of the challenges?

    A major issue still standing as an obstacle to the overall recommencement of economic activities is the issue of power generation consequent upon lack of gas. This is because a significant number of our power generation infrastructure is based on the thermal system, which is powered by gas. The existing hydro power station cannot generate enough power to significantly improve supply to the national grid. Unfortunately, we do not have other alternative sources of power generation such as coal, which we have in abundance in this country. There should have been power plants based on coal in Enugu, Kogi and Gombe States.

    Of course, we know that Ashaka Cement is building a small power plant in Gombe based on coal, but there should have been a major plant based on coal. The construction of Mambilla power plant, which is planned to be a huge plant that will generate over 3000 megawatts should have taken off. The whole of the Sahelian region-Sokoto, Jigawa and Borno, should have had solar power plants located severally. If this had happened, we will not be so much tied to thermal plants. As it is presently, all the major plants including the biggest one, the Egbin thermal plant based in Ikorodu, Lagos, are based on gas. With what is happening now in the Niger Delta, where the gas is sourced from and along the routes where the pipes pass, it becomes a very challenging situation. The issue of vandalism of gas pipelines will have to be addressed and clearly, it is not just an issue of vandalism, it has so many sore factors both political and economic. This is a major obstacle to the forward movement of the economy. For us in FUG, we continue to maintain our optimism and sustain the expectation that we will be able to achieve our medium term goals, substantially, in the second quarter of this year.

    So far,  since we commenced business, particularly in the second quarter, we have been  able to recover part of what we were not able to fully achieve last year.

    Many organisations have closed shops. some in operation have scaled down. How have these affected pension funds administration?

    It affected our business in two ways. The first has to do with when you have a depreciation in the wealth of employment generation, it automatically affects our business in terms of the new accounts that we generate. Secondly, it affects our business in terms of having to service the employees, who are now out of job and would require to sustain themselves. The law has provided that in the event of job loss and inability to get another job for a period of four months and above, an account holder can apply to access 25 per cent of the balance of their pension account. This is an amount that would have remained in their account being invested and growing. But, because of the circumstances of being laid off, the owner of the account will come and withdraw 25 per cent of it for consumption, meaning that it will go off and it is the 75 per cent remaining that will be invested and no new inflow will come in until that retrenched employee gets another job and starts contributing again.

    If the employee fails to get another job and he is 50 years, he will then come back as a retiree to fully access that account by taking lump sum and receiving pension, which he would not have done if he was employed. So, these are the two parts in which our business is affected. It is the reality, as I stated, it is a situation that I can see improving from the third quarter of this year. We anticipate that as these companies start investing again, a lot of those in the labour market will actually be called back to employment. And the government itself is targeting employment generation as one of its core objectives with agriculture in particular and private sector employment generation as the other. For us, generating employment in all sectors is good for our business.

    The Federal Government wants to use pension funds to bridge infrastructure gaps, what are the issues?

    First of all, let me state that it is not an issue of accessing the money. The government has been accessing the money with 70 per cent of the money invested in Federal and state government bonds. When we say 70 per cent, it means that 70 per cent of N5.4 trillion is in bonds and those bonds could fund anything. But, what we are talking about here is funding capital projects and the question is: How are you going to do it? PFAs are not project managers. We don’t have the capacity of phasing, packaging and funding projects. The capacity that we have is to manage and invest the funds for long term with safety and return as our goal. We are, therefore, available and ready to fund projects that meets these reqirements. The requirements are of safety and reasonable return.  But, how do you generate those projects? It is the parties that want to implement those projects that have the responsibility of packaging the projects to meet the requirement that will enable pension funds go into the funding of those projects. What we have been saying is let project promoters, either government institutions, private sector, multilateral agencies or development finance institutions create vehicles for generating, developing and presenting the projects to us. Once these projects meet our requirements, they meet the international best practices, which are known to everybody, the funds will definitely go into funding of the projects because that’s what we want. The government could make those bonds specific by floating a bond for funding a particular bridge such as the second Niger Bridge, proposed bridge in Nasarawa across the Benue River or package a bond specifically for funding the East/West rail line. The project promoters and managers will then develop and package the projects for financing. In the absence of such projects, there is a little we can do other than to invest in whatever available classes of assets are there.

    With the situation of the economy, how confident are you in investing pension funds in the capital market?

    Pension funds will always be invested in the capital market, but the significance will depend on the strategies of the particular investment manager. Not all PFAs will have same exposure every time in the capital market. However, at present, the average is just about eight per cent exposure of the funds under management in the capital market. But you can be sure that investment managers in the PFAs are watching the market on a regular basis and carrying out analyses. We anticipate that with the deregulation of the exchange regime and deregulation of petroleum downstream, foreign portfolio investors, who play a significant role in making the markets, will start coming back. And when they come back, initially, there might be profit taking and so on and so forth, but we anticipate that the market will start looking upwards and then investing managers in PFAs will start taking positions. So, but even at present, we have pension funds in the capital market.

    How did your firm fare last year? What is its present position?

    Last year was generally a difficult one for the economy as a whole for obvious reason. The year 2015 was an election year and there was a lot of apprehension in the country in terms of the political direction and the future. There was a lot of fear about crisis arising from election, particularly when the election dates were shifted to over a period of some weeks. However, as it turned out, the elections were concluded successfully. The country avoided crisis and the new administration took off at the end of May. This doused a lot of tension and therefore, made a lot of investors and the public to realise that we could in fact, have confidence in the future. Investors and the public then positioned to look and understand the focus of the new administration. But it took a little bit of time for the administration to fully settle, get the cabinet running and come up with concise and clear policy directions. This took almost the end of the year and for that reason, the economy became very slow. For us in the pension industry, this naturally affected our performance in terms of growth and registration.

    Specifically, how was your sector affected?

    We are in the contributory pension scheme, effectively meaning that unlike the defined benefit, it is totally and completely dependent on employment generation and employees opening Retirement Savings Accoumt (RSAs).  As a consequence of slowing down of economic activities and the waiting stance of investing public, there was a lull in employment generation over that period, not only in the private sector, which is supposed to be the major employer, but in the public sector, including both Federal and states.

    For this reason, there wasn’t very significant growth in the number of employees registered into the system. However, in spite of this circumstance, we in FUG have been able to weather that storm and move into 2016 with the confidence of being able to move towards achieving our projections for the medium term strategy plan. At the beginning of the first quarter of this year, semblance of direction was being identified, particularly in relations to policies that have to do with exchange rate and petroleum pricing.

    In the second quarter, even though there is no clear cut policy statement, it is clear that the exchange rate regime is now liberalised. Therefore, investors clearly now have a direction. They can anticipate and forecast unlike in the latter part of last year. With that, we expect that in the second half of this year which are the third and fourth quarters of the year, we will see a rejuvenation of activities in the economy. We anticipate that investors now see that bringing in their funds to invest, they have a window where the liberalised exchange regime of being able to repatriate their capital and profit.

    We, therefore, anticipate that companies that have been waiting for investment and therefore, regeneration of activities will now be able to attract partners, who will come in with investment. We also expect that portfolio investors will also stage a comeback into the capital market in the third quarter of the year. We anticipate that petroleum marketers will now be ready to truly recommence importation of fuel particularly petrol and aviation fuel because they can now sell at a reasonable price. Although we are told that it will not go beyond N145, but effectively, with the pricing regime we are looking at, they have an avenue of manipulating both the import cost, transportation and their own margin. So, we anticipate less pressure in that effect.

    What is the total asset under your management?

    As at present, I will say we have total asset  of about N44 billion out of which RSA fund is N39 billion. We are looking at achieving N50 billion assets under management by the end of this year. We have recorded about N44 billion now.

  • Unemployment: ‘Lagos needs more funds’

    Unemployment: ‘Lagos needs more funds’

    Lagos State needs more funds to tackle unemployment. the Governor,  Akinwunmi Ambode, has said.

    Ambode, who spoke in Lagos yesterday  at the first Stakeholders’ Summit of the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, said the state is  doing all it could to help tackle the problem, but stated that more funds was needed .

    He said the investment of N25 billion ETF for wealth creation purposes, would not yield the expected outcome if other complimentary efforts, like right attitudes to employment issues and employability of job seekers are not addressed.

    He said Lagos has identified wealth creation path as the direction for economic growth, saying the  state will offer the needed support to the establishment and growth of small businesses to enable them create job opportunities and generate wealth for collective prosperity of residents in the state.

    Ambode maintained that the present economic situation in the country presents opportunity to explore other areas of economic development that would reduce the adverse effects occasioned by the dwindling crude oil revenue.

    The Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Hon. Durosinmi Etti in his welcome address , said  the outcome of the summit would lead to a plan of action between government and the private sector and would assist government in creating needed atmosphere for employers of labour to excel.

    The said three Job Registration/Labour Exchange Centres have been established in Badagry, Lagos and Ikorodu divisions. ‘The centres are fully operational. In the next two months, we expect the Ikeja and Epe divisional centres to come on stream.’ He added.

    In his goodwill message, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo commended Governor Ambode commended the investment of the State governor in infrastructure and security of lives and properties across the State describing them as the needed ingredients for meaningful and sustainable wealth creation.

    The Vice President, who was represented by the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu, expressed the belief that economic activities only thrives in a secured atmosphere adding that Governor Ambode has already demonstrated  this through the creation of an enabling environment for SMEs to thrive.

  • ‘Creative industry can end unemployment’

    ‘Creative industry can end unemployment’

    Foluke George is the brain behind the Vision of the Child (VoTC) project. With over 123 paintings in its yearly art competitions, VoTC has been nurturing young talents. The 2016 edition, which ended with an exhibition/award night, kick-started Lagos@50 celebrations.  George is passionate about the arts and believes that with private sector investments the creative industry will become a major revenue earner and create jobs. In this chat with EVELYN OSAGIE, she speaks on her passion, the creative industry’s potential and the talents of Nigerian children.

    Before VoTC, how were you involved in the arts?

    My love for arts started with my younger brother – Olubunmi Oluwadare,  who began his artistic journey at the age of six. I worked with Chief Nike Okundaye in the 1990s and in 2002; and 2009, I led eight Nigerian artists to Florence, Italy, to participate in Caterina de’Medici World Painting competition and awards. In both competitions, Nigerian artists won gold and silver prizes. I also co-ordinated the Caterina de’Medici Africa edition in Nigeria in 2010 under the supervision of Prof Wole Soyinka.

    What was it in your upbringing that inspired the woman you have become?

    I grew up in the midst of boys. I leant to be strong as a child and I was always learning from the wisdom pot of my father. He told me at nine: never to give up. He reiterated several times in my early days that I was the best, even when I came home with second, third or fourth position.  He told me that my birth place, environment and circumstances must never be allowed to kill my dream. He is my Hero!

    With what the economy is facing due to the crisis in the oil sector, some art critics say the art sector is remains untapped and holds much economic prospects. What do you think?

    This is correct. With the dwindling oil prices, Nigeria can no longer rely on oil revenues. As the largest economy in Africa, it must be seen to take the lead in economic diversification and develop other sectors that have the potential for income earnings for the nation. Art is untapped!

    The creative/cultural industry is the third largest industry in the United Kingdom (UK). New figures published by the UK Government revealed that the UK’s creative industry is now worth £76.9 billion per year to the UK economy. This massive contribution is at an all-time high and equates to £8.8m per hour, or £146,000 every single minute, playing a key role in the government’s long-term economic plan. Nigeria’s creative/cultural industry is no different, in terms of the potential that it holds. There is urgent need for research agenda for the understanding of the creative/cultural economy in Nigeria. Government should seek out ways to tap into it.

    Critics also say leaders should pay attention to developing the creative potentials of the Nigerian child; they insist that government is not doing enough to harness that sector…

    The truth is that government is yet to harness the potential embedded in children’s creativity. How many creative institutions do we have in Nigeria? The old tradition of going to schools, reading, passing and graduating with little or no skill is still prevalent in Nigeria. This is why the rate of unemployment is very high. A potential employer of labour will end up in eight to five routine jobs because he missed his purpose due to lack of incentive to develop his potential.  Every child is sent to the world to rule and reign; the government must collaborate with the private sector/organisations like ours to grow creative economy.

    Where do you think parents and government are getting it wrong, with regards to galvanising the artistic talent in  children?

    Nigeria’s great future will largely depend on today’s children. There is need to help develop their God’s given talents so that our country can generate massive wealth through their creativity in the future.  Let me begin with parents, most parents have misdirected their children by insisting on courses they’d like them to pursue in the universities without reference to their ability and God’s given talents. Parents must watch their children from early years to understand their passion, and help them to develop early enough. Government must build institutions that will promote and develop creative thinking and inventions – and it’s not too late to start.

    How long have you been involved with children and how has the experience been ?

    The 2010 edition of Caterina de’Medici International Painting Award gave birth to the Vision of the Child (VoTC) in 2011. The first edition of VoTC took place 2012. This year is the fifth edition. So far, besides this year’s edition, 30 winners have emerged from the previous ones. After 2012 and 2013 editions, we discovered that children are endowed with multiple gifts. So in 2014, submission of essays, short stories or poems on given theme was introduced. We began two creative medium of expression in 2015 with the theme The Road to Sambisa dedicated to the agony of the Chibok Girls.

    It’s been an amazing journey working with children. I have learnt so much from them. Children love people, who are open with them and allow them to express themselves. Their innocence allows them to give unbiased opinion about issues. They also collaborate with each other without difficulties. They are easy to correct, lead and they have team spirit!

    How has VoTC helped in the talent development of the Nigerian child?

    Nigeria is a great nation with highly talented children, who required platform to develop and climb the ladder of success. One of the key elements of the VoTC is to hear the voices of the youth and children, and equip them to lead change. VoTC provides participating children the platform to express their understanding of the world they live in, their vision of what it should be, their dreams and fantasies through painting and the literary arts – poetry, prose, fiction, or essay.  So far, VoTC initiative has promoted thousands of children in Lagos State through her yearly programme. We are bringing up a crop of children who are bold, strong, passionate and determined to face the future. By challenging their creativity, they are able to apply necessary skills to solve problems. The arts will help them to apply their power of imagination and creativity to revolutionise the economy of Nigeria.

    What is VoTC driving force?

    We believe in Nigeria’s future, hence, our effort to catch them young and guide them to make right choices that will transform the country. At VoTC, we are building tomorrow’s leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators and world changers.  Leading change requires education, training, capacity building and proper understanding of one’s immediate environment. Over the years, we have seen that children have lots of information stored in their mind. VoTC platform helps them to speak out their minds, discover what they are born to do, and creatively pursue their goals without distractions.

    How have you been able to sustain it?

    The team members of VoTC are selfless. We believe in this vision, hence, the level of success recorded in the past. Diamond Bank joined the VoTC from inception as sponsor, the bank believes in the future of Nigeria through child development. We are hoping to work with other corporate organisations for future expansion.

    I heard this year’s edition was special, how so?

    The 2016 edition, which culminated in an exhibition and award night, was dedicated to the golden jubilee celebration of the creation of Lagos – hence Lagos@50. The mega city of Lagos became 49 years on May 27and the celebration will be on for 365 days! So, this year’s award’s dinner also kick-started the season of celebration.  It’s interesting that the date coincided with World Children Day; big thanks to Prof Wole Soyinka and the Lagos State government for believing in children as stakeholders to the future of Nigeria.

    Can you recount this year’s edition, from start to finish?

    This year’s finalists, representing 30 schools from across the state, emerged from 500 student-participants (drawn from 200 schools – primary and secondary), who took part in a three-day intensive audition in April. They worked on the year’s theme: Sisi-Eko@50: Ageing gracefully? Or Na So-So Pancake?. The project was opened officially in the month of January. Winners emerged before May 27 but the names and schools, which are usually kept secret till the last day, were announced. Emmanuel Richard emerged winner of this year’s painting category, while Favour Uti won the literary category.

    What lessons should parents, who frown at their children and wards expressing themselves in the arts, draw from the lives of participants of VoTC’s competitions?

    Parents also need a bit of exposure as to how to bring up their children, The VoTC stories have impacted so many homes in the last five years; and we have more participants each year. In 2012, it was quite difficult to convince schools and parents to register, but things have changed drastically as we have more schools on our database. Parents must be educated to allow their children to participate in fora that can develop the children raw talents. Our past winners are now part of the VoTC team as intern, moderators, trainers and great ambassadors.

    VoTC seems to be promoting talents yearly, any plans to mentor them beyond the competition?

    Yes. We have big plans. We are prepared to collaborate with the government and private sectors to build VoTC Academy. This academy will focus on mentoring children in art, music, dance, drama, poetry, architecture, information technology, etc. Most of the initial courses will hold during holidays and weekends. We will have series of educational packages that will help children to develop their gifts and contribute to nation-building. The academy will also have leadership-building sections where teenagers will be admitted to learn leadership development and entrepreneurship.  We also proposed to build a Hall of Fame, where the works (painting and literary) of these children will be put on exhibition for tourism purposes.

    How has partnering Lagos State government helped in driving VOTC’s vision?

    Lagos State government has hosted VoTC project for five years, their support is overwhelming. The project commenced during the administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola, and it has been taken over by the present administration. I see a brighter future with the leadership style of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. He’s here to implement projects through adequate planning, proper organisation, control and monitoring! To him, Lagos is a project that must be properly managed to achieve desired goals and objectives.

    What should others learn from the Lagos’s example?

    Firstly, other states should recognise and work with visionary leaders that are selfless and have passion for human development. The success of VoTC’s project is primarily hinged on the foresight of Prof Wole Soyinka, who sees great future in whatever he does. He has strong passion for  arts, literature and child’s development, hence, the total embrace by the Lagos State government.

    Also, other corporate organisations should also learn from Diamond Bank’s team, the project was brought to the bank executives without a track record. They refused to be hindered by the lack of voluminous document, but bought into the future of VoTC. The bank is truly the bank for the next generation of entrepreneurs and change agents! Private sectors must invest more into talents development. This is the key elements for economic development.

  • ‘Poverty, unemployment, veritable tool of terrorism’

    Caretaker Chairman of Ibadan North Local Govt Yinka Akinbode has identified poverty, unemployement, hunger, as causes  of terrorism in the country.

    Akinbode spoke at the security summit by the Ibadan North Local Govt Command of Civil Defence Corps.

    His words: “There are too many security challenges that stare us in the face in Nigeria today kidnapping, terrorism, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, pipeline vandalisation.

    The new terrorism in town is cattle rustling,fulani herdsmen and farmers clashes which has claimed lives and is still claiming except government takes proactive steps to stop the menace”

  • How to curb youth unemployment

    How to curb youth unemployment

    Renowned film maker Dr. Ola Balogun, at a news conference in Lagos on Monday, addressed the challenges posed by youth employment. He also proffered solutions. Excerpts of his address: 

    As a father and a grandfather, I simply cannot bring myself to sit with folded arms and watch so many millions of young Nigerians suffering from hunger and unemployment without being driven to want to contribute to finding some practical solutions to this dire situation.

    Undoubtedly, a nation that is so irresponsible as to abandon an entire generation of young citizens in the wilderness without food, water, shelter and hope for the future can be said to be in the process of engaging in a self-destructive exercise of collective suicide. Are we older Nigerians entitled to rest with easy consciences while our young ones are crying out daily for help?

    Only those who have deliberately chosen to be blind, deaf and dumb can fail to recognise that if nothing concrete is done very soon to salvage the youths of Nigeria from the ugly consequences of massive levels of unemployment, the Nigerian nation will collapse irretrievably within the next two or three decades, if not sooner…

    In any case, those Nigerians who believe that they can abandon the vast majority of our young people to a miserable and desperate existence characterised by deep levels of hunger and despondency while they, for their part, continue to live a life of opulence and to celebrate the birthdays and weddings of their own children in glitzy hotels and banquet halls in major Nigerian cities, as well as abroad in Dubai, Monaco, Acapulco etc are very much mistaken : If Nigeria is eventually allowed to crash, there will be no hiding place for any category of Nigerians. It is easy to predict that few will escape the impending catastrophe of large scale urban riots and lawlessness that will ensue when our youths will have been driven by hunger and despair to engage in large scale criminal activities…

    Those who deliberately refuse to sympathize with the plight of the many millions of unemployed young Nigerians who are roaming the streets of our cities today do so at their own peril. It is in our collective self interest to act to provide practical solutions to this sorry state of affairs before it is too late.

    The alarming nature of the present situation is too obvious to be denied! Where we find nearly one million Nigerians (mostly youths!) responding to an advertisement for only ten thousand vacancies in a public establishment, we cannot deny the extreme gravity of the phenomenon that we are witnessing…

    Manifestly, an issue of this nature is a matter of urgent national interest. It is therefore too serious to be left to government alone to solve. Every patriotic Nigerian citizen has a responsibility to make some contribution towards finding solutions to the crisis into which our nation has been plunged by the current unacceptably high level of youth unemployment. We cannot afford to sit idly waiting for government to do something, the more so as most civil servants and political leaders are too much prisoners of conventional and unimaginative thinking to find appropriate solutions to this kind of challenge…

    That is why I have now decided to step forward to initiate a nationwide youth empowerment strategy under the umbrella of a movement that will be known as #NIGERIA WILL RISE AGAIN.

    At this point in time, I am happy to state that two patriotic colleagues, namely Barrister Femi Falana (SAN) and Professor Tunde Adeniran (a former Federal Minister of Education) have kindly agreed to collaborate with me in order to flesh out the basic idea that I envisage, with a view to initiating practical action at the earliest possible time. I intend to reach out to other colleagues in the course of time, and I am sure that we will soon be joined by a few others to plan and implement the envisaged youth empowerment initiative with all possible dispatch.

    The basic idea that I have decided to set in motion is aimed at encouraging our youths to abandon the approach of applying en masse for non-existent civil service and public sector jobs.

    Instead, it would make more sense for a few of us to assist them to solve their plight by helping them to raise interest-free funding that can serve as a tool for our youths to become self employed by forming small cooperatives all over the nation to manufacture and market textile and leather products, as well as assemble telephones, computers, tablets, cars, bicycles, motor cycles etc

    To begin with, my colleagues and I will appeal to all well-meaning Nigerians to come forward to donate whatever amount of money they can afford towards the establishment of a revolving fund that will be directly administered by a committee of youths.

    By the time we are able to convince well-meaning Nigerians from all over the country to donate sums ranging from N1,000 (one thousand naira) to N100,000 (one hundred thousand naira), we should easily be able to help the youths raise between N5 million (five million naira) to N10 million (ten million naira) within a couple of weeks. This is an easily feasible goal in a context where many gullible Nigerians troop in hundreds of thousands every Sunday to donate vast sums of money to bogus pastors under the guise of allegedly paying tithes. Needless to state, the money that is donated to these pastors merely serves to enrich the said pastors and enable them to live in opulence and buy lands, luxury houses, jet planes etc while their congregations wallow in poverty…

    Instead of donating money to pastors and churches, why can’t those of our people who are willing to help their fellow citizens empower our children to become self-employed by donating some of that money instead to a fund that will enable young Nigerians set up cooperative enterprises?

    Coming back to the youth empowerment initiative tht I wish to set in motion, I would like to explain that the reason why it is necessary to raise interest-free funding that will facilitate the setting up of cooperative enterprises by Nigerian youths is that Nigerian banks will never give our people soft loans for industrial and commercial enterprises without requiring them to produce the kind of collaterals that young people who are just starting out in life cannot be expected to have.

    As a result, we are now in a ridiculous situation where we have hundreds of banks with hundreds of thousands of branches all over the country, but virtually no industries…

    Of what possible use are all these banks to the people of Nigeria?

    Interestingly enough, it has now become obvious that the main business of most Nigerian banks involves foreign exchange round-tripping, massive money laundering, and serving as accomplices in the dishonest schemes and criminal activities of government officials and politicians who have been looting the nation on a massive scale. Why do we need these bogus banks? Most of them should be closed down, given the fact that they are nothing but a front for a variety of criminal enterprises…

    At the same time as we take steps to raise independent funding by asking for donations from well-meaning patriotic Nigerians as a practical means towards helping Nigerian youths to become self employed, we intend to appeal to the relevant governmental authorities all over the country to donate land and physical structures to facilitate the setting up of the envisaged cooperative grassroots enterprises.

    Furthermore, once we have enabled our youths to launch massively into the manufacture and marketing of various products, we will appeal to the Federal Government to ban the importation of such products into the country. For instance, why should we continue to import NAPEP tricycles (otherwise known as ‘keke Marwa’) into the country when such products can easily be  locally assembled and manufactured by Nigerian youths?

    At the same time, there should henceforth be strict implementation of expatriate quota regulations in Nigeria!

    All foreign nationals who have only come to Nigeria to trade or engage in activities that can be handled by Nigerian nationals should immediately have their residence and work permits withdrawn, as a prelude to their being required to return to their countries of origin. What is the justification for allowing an Indian or Lebanese national to come to Nigeria to open a shop to sell electronic products, when so many Nigerians who are currently unemployed can easily man shops to sell television sets and freezers?

    After all, Nigerians are not allowed to settle and trade in foreign countries such as Britain, France, Germany, the U.S., India, China, Lebanon etc under the pretext that they are “economic migrants”. Why then should the nationals of suchcountries be allowed to settle and do business in Nigeria? What justifies the issuance of residence and work permits to foreigners who have no special skills and qualifications that can justify their coming to Nigeria to settle and engage in trading activities, thereby getting into a position that enables them to repatriate hundreds of millions of dollars to their own countries every year, whereas millions of Nigerians are unemployed and penniless?

    To add insult to injury, many of these foreigners are blatant racists and wicked exploiters of slave labour who  only employ Nigerians in menial capacities, whereas they keep bringing their relatives and fellow nationals from their own countries to live in opulence and occupy managerial positions that are not open to Nigerians! Why do we have unpatriotic leaders and corrupt civil servants who issue visas, residence permits and work permits to these exploitative foreign nationals?

    This is an utterly  reprehensive situation that must be brought to an end at the earliest possible time. It is definitely not acceptable that Nigerian youths who are graduates should end up sweeping the floor and serving settler foreigners as ‘boy-boy’ in enterprises such as Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets and huge money making supermarkets and shopping centres!

    The challenge of transforming the teeming millions of unemployed Nigerian youths into a self-employed and relatively prosperous legion of happy contented citizens can easily be met if the suggestions I am making towards creating a nation-wide youth employment scheme are implemented.

    Towards facilitating the practical implementation of these envisaged strategies, I wish to appeal to the youths to come forward with their own suggestions. I believe we would do well to copy and expand the methodology of traditional ‘esusu’ practices, whereby an initial set of youths would receive funding and be required to inject more funds into the scheme as soon as they begin to generate enough income, so that new sets of beneficiaries can become empowered.

    To work out details of the scheme and take in suggestions from the public, a public forum will soon be launched online by my colleagues and I. This will be followed in June and July by a series of town hall meetings in major Nigerian cities, culminating in a giant youth rally in Lagos at the end of July to which youth representatives from all over the country will be invited.