Youths urge FG to tackle unemployment
Nigerian youths have urged the Federal Government to pay attention to youth unemployment and save the nation from stagnation. They made this call at the 2019 International Youth Day (IYD) rally held last week in Abuja. The Youth Day celebration was a two-day events with a symposium on August 15 on the theme ‘Promote Youth […]
National Youth Council (NYC) president Comrade Victor Ekpo during the rally held IN Abuja on Friday.
Nigerian youths have urged the Federal Government to pay attention to youth unemployment and save the nation from stagnation.
They made this call at the 2019 International Youth Day (IYD) rally held last week in Abuja.
The Youth Day celebration was a two-day events with a symposium on August 15 on the theme ‘Promote Youth Employment, Ensure Economic Independence for the Young’ and a rally on Friday, August 16, 2019 in the FCT.
The IYD celebration presents an opportunity for government at all levels to deliberate on ways to engage young people to be more actively involved in nation building process.
The Youth Wing of the Nigerian Labour Congress, in collaboration with Actionaid Nigeria through its Youth Organizing and Leadership (YOL) project, engaged young people to mark the day with focus on influencing public opinion and government actions on public finance and Gender Responsive Public Service in the country.
Speaking at the rally, the permanent secretary, and the Program Officer, ActionAid, Blessing Ifemenam, pointed out that to engender a responsive service delivery system in the country, “public service should be publicly funded and publicly delivered.”
She called on government to address the challenges young people face in the workplace, promote economic opportunities and ensure that public services are youth responsive.
Comrade Victor Ekpo, president of the NLC Youth Committee also stated that, “inclusion of young people in employment, political, social and other spheres of life is a recipe for sustainable peace and national development.”
He added that the commemoration of International Youth Day was an opportunity to draw attention on the need to make employment accessible and inclusive for young people.
The rally brought together young people from the NLC youth wing, activists, students and other youth networks.
The youths emphasized on the need for government to mitigate unemployment by paying attention to young people through “the elimination of multiple taxation and increasing budgetary allocation to education because this will reduce poverty and help young people live a decent life.”