The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and other Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), has said that capacity building is a powerful agent of change that improves health, livelihoods, contributes to social stability and drives long-term economic growth.
President of ASSBIFI, Oyinkan Olasanoye, disclosed this in Lagos, adding that leaders in both private and public sectors to give necessary mentorship support to youths for the young ones to support economic growth.
According to her, “it is the right place for youths to be inspired as visionary young leaders by participating in discourse that broadens their possibilities, the vision to live a life of impact.
“We call on our leaders to provide a platform for influential leaders to weigh in on worsening youth crisis, unemployment, lack of direction in the country”.
She stressed that the population of youths in the country is an advantage, for instance, “to drive digital transformation across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, if they are well equipped with the right digital skills.
“The essence of training is to equip the youths with digital skills that will drive digital transformation, address youth restiveness, and create employment and wealth in the country”, she said.
She emphasised that capacity building is a powerful agent of change that improves health, livelihoods, contributes to social stability and drives long-term economic growth. It is also essential to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
On retooling the workforce for the fourth industrial revolution, Olasanoye said for young people to be prepared for 4IR, there is a need to close the existing gap between education, learning outcomes, and employment skills in demand.
She noted that this could only happen when mainstream curricular is designed in ways that are relevant for the job market continuously.
According to the labour leader, the 4IR would require a workforce and a new mindset that is open to continual development and lifelong learning.
She advised that young people needed to be socialised to develop both soft and digital skills from the primary school stage for them to take advantage of the 4IR.
She, however, suggested an integrated approach where the academia, government, private sector and practitioners co-create the development of a curriculum would go a long way in preparing young people effectively for the future of work.