By CHARLES KUMOLU

NIGERIA has a population of over 67 million unemployed youths out of a population of about 167 million persons, a 2011 report by the  National Bureau of Statistics, said.

With this scaring statistics, concerned stakeholders had in the past and present, called for urgent steps towards addressing the crisis

Perhaps, this need for a drastic solution, informed the plans to hold a ten-day employment creation seminar in Warri.

The workshop, which is a brainchild of  Sama Books Launch Services, is primarily convened to train and empower about three thousand youths from Delta, Bayelsa and River States on wealth creation through commercial farming.

Disclosing this in an encounter with Vanguard Features,VF, Principal Partner of the organisation, Mr. Dafe Sama said arrangements have been concluded to provide loans to successful participants.

‘’Basically when you look at the situation in the country, you will discover that a lot of youths are unemployed.This has contributed to the present crime rate, especially in the Niger Delta region. There is a high crime rate in other parts of the country, but that of Niger Delta is so unique. And one of the biggest reasons why we have this high rise in crime is because of the unemployment level.  That was why we had to set up this programme, which is like a workshop for impacting skills to the youths,’’ Sama noted.

Training of three thousand youths:  He further said, ‘’we intend to train about three thousand youths across Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States. After the training, we are going to conduct an examination. Successful ones among them will be put into groups. We will solicit for a take-off of loan from our corresponding banks.

With the funds, we will set up farms for successful candidates and after the period of repayment of the loans, they can now own the farms. The scheme is expected to cover the 36 states in Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory eventually.’’

On modalities for choosing participants for the programme, he said, ‘’we don’t want to restrict it to university graduates alone. We want to believe that anybody, who has passed through secondary school and can read  and write, is eligible to participate.

It is going to be open because we have  a situation where some university graduates are not as bright as secondary school leavers. We are going to look for a more practical way instead of theory and once you can understand what is been taught, you are eligible.’’

Explaining further, Sama said, ‘’It is a ten-day course. We are looking at fish farming, poultry farming and palm oil production. As we move on, we are going to introduce some other courses. So, the three thousand youths we are training are going to be trained on these three skills and the examination will be conducted on the skills.

After the examination, successful ones will be put into a group of ten or fifteen persons and they will be given the loans as a group. We also expect the local government to provide land for farming as their own equity contribution.’’

Continuing, he disclosed thus: ‘’we are now going to bring in the bank to purchase equipments and every other necessary thing needed for the project. If you look at it, you will discover that the youths are not going to pay  a dime. We are even looking at the possibility of having corporate organisations, sponsor the participants.’’

Partnership with state governments: In addition he said,

‘’Partnership with state governments is not the real issue here. The issue is that we have sent out our letters and we have been talking to government representatives. We expect the government to sponsor certain number of the participants as it affects their state. The training is free because the participants are not expected to pay any money.

We are going to feed and accommodate them during the duration of the training. Ten days is adequately enough for the training, because we are going to teach them the basics and that period is adequate enough for any reasonable person to learn the trade.’’

Asked what could be done to address  youth/graduate unemployment in the country, Sama said, ‘’Going by government records, they are trying but implementation is the problem . Government is so big that supervision becomes very challenging. But private organisations like ours, we have close monitoring system that monitors and implements programmes.

That is why I am calling for more private organisations to be involved in the search for a solution to the employment crisis.  Government can only provide  the funding, but implementation is the problem, that is why various poverty alleviation programmes have failed.’’

Poverty alleviation

Elaborating further, he

said, ‘’The private organisations, have closer links with the people than  government. If government had reduced unemployment through various poverty alleviation schemes, we would not have been here. We want to actually monitor this programme and implement it.

In the interim, the government should involve private organisations because if the unemployment rate is not checked, we will get to a flashpoint and it would be worst than Boko Haram. And that is my greatest fear, when a man is jobless, he is vulnerable to certain evils.’’

He also said, ‘’We are equipping people to become financially independent because Nigeria has gone beyond certificate qualification. It is an ongoing programme, we have the next batch coming up by the middle of next month. We have had support from NIMASA, because the Director General is interested in creating employment for Niger Delta youths.’’