Ngige makes case for youth fund at employment summit

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has called for the establishment of the Youth Fund for Employment by the Africa Development Bank (AFDB) in the face of the future of work and challenges posed by it.   He made this call  to the Second Specialized Technical Committee on Social Development, Labour and […]

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has called for the establishment of the Youth Fund for Employment by the Africa Development Bank (AFDB) in the face of the future of work and challenges posed by it.  

He made this call  to the Second Specialized Technical Committee on Social Development, Labour and Employment summit which ended in Algiers, Algeria over the weekend.  

Contributing to discussions on  the Africa Labour Summit, Ngige who led  the  Nigeria’s delegation to the summit said  that with the growing number of youths joining the informal labour sector, the immediate take-off of the fund would greatly assist in skills training and formal technical education needed to improve productivity while helping to also formalize the informal sector.  

“In Nigeria and I believe is the same in many African countries, emphasis is shifting from limited white collar job to the expansive opportunities that abound in the blue-collar sector. A great deal of effort is being invested in entrepreneurial studies to make our environment fit for enterprise creation in job rich areas such as agriculture, mining and ICT, all intended to close the existing gap between graduate employability and demands of the labour market.  The new visions should be for graduate entrepreneurs who would not be job seekers but establishers of business for themselves and employing others, especially the high school leavers who normally stream into the informal sector. When this fund takes off and made available to all, will assist in no small measure,” he said.