Skill acquisition key to solving Nigeria’s unemployment crisis, says Fed Govt

The federal government has said skills acquisition for young people in the country was key to solving the unemployment crisis in Nigeria.

The Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu said this when he received a delegation from the Ladi Memorial Foundation (LMF) in Abuja.

He charged youths in the country to embrace skill training with a commitment of becoming an employer of labour rather than depending on other organisations to be employed.

“Gone are the days where people looked at skills or tailoring as not a money making venture, we do know that right now, especially among the females that the cost of sewing is higher than the fabric because you can get a cheap fabric but if you have a good designer, putting that fabric together becomes expensive,” he stated.

He explained that education was meant to help the skilled individual by embracing the advent of innovation and technology as an added advantage that would further strengthen small businesses and increase their productivity.

He said: “We all know that there are a lot of young men out there who prior to their tertiary education were involved in one skill or the other, some automobile mechanics, others fashion designers, using these skills to sustain their education but immediately they are handed certificate, stigmatisation comes into play, they now believe that you must have a white collar job to survive not knowing that the education is supposed to provide them with critical thinking to professionalised their skills and expand their businesses.”

Sununu also received the winner of the 2023 FCT sewing Championship pilot scheme, 18 years old Miss Susan Audu who made a cloth for the minister.

The minister said he was surprised that the girl could sew a shirt for him in under two hours, adding that with proper support, her shop can produce over 100 shirts in a day.

Sununu said the ministry would partner with LMF to host the 2024 national Sewing Championship.

The minister said: “I must commend your efforts in trying to harvest talent and catch them young. If you look at the 8 point Agenda and education priority focus, you will find out that skill is a major thematic area, that is why we are making efforts to review the curriculum so as to reintegrate and focus towards skill acquisition.”

While presenting the shirt to the Minister, the Executive Director of LMF, Rosemary Osikoye said the NSC – 2024 would produce over 18,000 garments by young people from ages 12 to 22 years.