Lions International has said efforts at tackling youth unemployment in the country must begin with the provision of skills acquisition and empowerment programmes targeted at impacting lives.
Speaking in Benin, during a press briefing tagged: ‘Welcome on Board’, District 404-A4 Governor, Osadebamwen Okoro, said the mission of the organisation was to empower and improve health and well-being, strengthen communities, and support those in need through humanitarian services.
He stressed that his leadership was to primarily focus on the youths, particularly providing empowerment and provision of skills acquisition programmes to reduce the unemployment crisis that has bedeviled the country.
Okoro said tackling youth restiveness, occasioned by the alarming unemployment rate in the country would be history if the society focuses on youth empowerment and skills acquisition for the teeming, unemployed and growing army of Nigeria’s youth population.
“We can’t leave the youths in the street. Doing so will cause more crimes and criminality in our society. That is why under my leadership as the District Governor of District 404-A4, my focus is on youth empowerment.
“If we engage the youths positively, they will be busy and begin to think of meaningful things to do with their time and energy. Then, the issues of crime and other social vices they engage in will be reduced. That is why Lions International is coming to its rescue with the provision of a skill acquisition centre in Benin. We know that the youths are hungry because there is alarming hunger in the country,” he said.
He further said, “We cannot start feeding the youths on the streets in Benin. What we want to do is teach them how to feed themselves. That is why we embarked on the building of a youth and skills acquisition centre in Benin.
“By getting trained in our skills acquisition centre, they can now take care of themselves and, by extension, their families, which ultimately translates into taking care of the society,” he said.
The post ‘Skills acquisition critical to addressing youth unemployment’ appeared first on Guardian Nigeria News.
Powered by WPeMatico
