Unemployment: Saraki advocates state of emergency

The Federal government has been urged to declare a state of emergency on unemployment among youths to further enhance peace and security in the country.
Making the call in Ilorin at a one-day technical youth summit organised by the ABS Senatorial Constituency office for unemployed youths in Kwara State, the representative of Kwara Central Senatorial District and Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, said: “There is every need to extend the declaration of state of emergency to youths’ unemployment.
“We have done it in the power and water sectors among others and it has worked out well.”
The summit was entitled: “Youths Unemployment in Kwara State, The Way Forward.”
Saraki, who is also the immediate past governor of Kwara State, added that according to the National Population Commission, youths account for 65 per cent of the Nigerian population and 23.9 per cent of the unemployment rate in Nigeria.
According to Saraki, though Kwara State has just nine per cent unemployment rate, “we still need to do more as even one per cent rate is unacceptable as there cannot be any stability, peaceful environment and prosperity of any sort with youth unemployment.”
The lawmaker emphasised on entrepreneurship promotion as the new trend, particularly to address the challenges related to alarming high youth unemployment rate.
He said: “It also offers pathways for young people to overcome the problem of unemployment.
“I am of the view that special attention must be paid to social entrepreneurship mode, which should be infused in the real economy closer to the youth within local environment.”
In his remark, the Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed, who endorsed the call for the state of emergency on youth employment, said: “As the largest component of our population and the inheritors of the future, youths are our most vital resource.
“We must nurture, support and prime them for productive engagement through appropriate training and tangible opportunities.”
According to the governor, as a youth-focused administration, his administration has implemented several interventions to get more youths into employment and into business since 2011.