US Consulate unveils initiative to tackle youth unemployment

BY PROVIDENCE OBUH

The United States Consulate-General, Lagos has unveiled an initiative to support the efforts of government to tackle the menace of unemployment among youths in the country.

Speaking during the unveiling of Generation Enterprise at the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate- General, Lagos, Chief Executive Officer of Generation Enterprise, Miss Clara Chow, said more than 80 million of the world’s young people are unemployed; another 150 million youth are part of the “working poor”, earning meager and precarious livelihoods in the informal economy.

Chow noted that the figure is the highest number of unemployed youth ever measured by the International Labor Organisation (ILO), which represents the breeding ground for a global social crisis.

According to her, “The young social entrepreneurs on Generation Enterprise’s team are fighting to diffuse this “ticking time bomb” and help a “lost generation” find its way. They have come to Lagos, the world’s fastest-growing mega-city, where population explosion, slum expansion, desperate poverty, but also entrepreneurial drive and a new spirit of civic engagement, collide.”

She disclosed that Generation Enterprise is a non-profit social enterprise, run entirely by dedicated students and young professionals from across Nigeria, the USA, Germany, and Singapore and also a youth-led network of small business incubators and community hubs that equip street youth to leave life on the streets, start sustainable businesses, and create jobs

Chow, however, noted that the enterprise helps in getting youths off the streets, make smart investments in high-growth, youth-run businesses, and create employment in underdeveloped communities.