BY RITA OBODOECHINA

Nigerian Employer’s Consultative Association (NECA), in conjunction with the International Labour Organization ILO, has launched an entrepreneurial scheme for Nigerian youths called “Start and Improve Your Business”, SIYB.

The Director General of NECA, Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, who disclosed this during the official launch of the scheme in Lagos, urged Nigerian youths to take advantage of the scheme to generate employment for themselves.

He said, the SYIB was created in an effort to promote start up and strengthening of micro and small enterprises across the globe, thereby, boosting employment.

He added that one of the roles of NECA is to promote entrepreneurship in Nigeria through its capacity building programmes.

The Senior Specialist Employers Activities of ILO, Addis Ababa, Mr. Hezron Njugunan, in his presentation, titled, ‘Combating the Problem of Unemployment, the Role and Place of Entrepreneurship Promotion and Empowerment,’ said that SYIB has been tested and found approved to make youth and retirees to use the economy.

He advised youths to create their own jobs by themselves, adding that “if we simply have to go chasing jobs; we will not find it unless we create them ourselves.”

On the challenges of unemployment in Nigeria, the President of SYIB Trainers Association, Mr. Noruwa Edokpolo, said the programme is organised with the aim of contributing to job creation.