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William Nwankwo Alo
On August 1, 2019, youths from different countries will converge on Abuja for the three-day Global Youth Employment Forum. Nigeria will host the world in an event being organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment. The event comes as part of ILO’s centenary anniversary, which started in May this year.
The 101st session of the International Labour Conference had in 2012 adopted a resolution, “Youth Employment Crisis – a Call for Action,” to place youth development on the top national the development agenda of member nations. It further adopted the Goal 8 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a view to accelerate economic growth and decent work for youths. Hence, this year’s Global Youth Employment Forum with the theme, “Today and Tomorrow With Decent Jobs for Youths” is to strengthen the 2012 “Call for Action.”
It bears stating at this juncture that this is the second time in the 100-year history of the ILO that this youth event would hold, the first being the 2012 edition in Geneva, Switzerland. The choice of Nigeria for this centenary edition, according to the world labour body, is in recognition of its various contributions towards youth development across the African continent. In other words, here comes a global recognition and endorsement for age-long efforts of Nigeria, especially, the giant strides of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to mainstream Nigerian youths in various socio-political and economic milieu.
Expected at the event are 250 youth entrepreneurs selected from the global community and cutting across social partners. Also expected in attendance are the director-general of the ILO, Mr. Guy Ryder, the United Nation’s Special Envoy on Youths, other UN officials, dignitaries from ILO member states as well as directors of the ILO country offices across Africa. It is worthy of note that this is the first time a director-general of the ILO will be visiting since Nigeria became the first African nation to join the group in 1960. The delegates will share their experiences on decent work as it affects the world of work and based on the peculiarities of each nation. They will also deliberate on emerging youth challenges, while proffering solutions to them.
The import of the forum for Africa, with nearly 325 million youths, cannot be lost on its development index. It, therefore, establishes the resolve of the ILO to invest in African youths, in view of its “Call for Action” in search of sustained development goals. It will also ginger continental commitment to youth development as contained in the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063.
Expectedly, the forum will amplify youth voices, aspirations and expectations as well as reflect on sectors that will provide productive employment. From shared experiences, the forum will solicit commitment for action and global partnership.
In a similar vein, the forum will provide a rare opportunity for Nigeria to showcase its accomplishments in repositioning youths as well as promote youth innovations and entrepreneurship. It further offers a veritable window on the various policies and programmes of the Buhari administration in tackling challenges of youth unemployment through direct diverse empowerment initiatives that have impacted positively on the Nigerian youths.
For example, the massive investment of the Federal Government in agriculture has absorbed millions of youths into gainful employment. At present, over two million youths have also benefited from different categories of the N-Power programme, while the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and MarketMoni scheme have empowered 350,000 MSMEs across 36 states of the federation. The administration has additionally approved N10 billion Youth Entrepreneurship Support Project (YES-P) to empower youths with business start-up loans. Government has also built two ICT innovation Hubs in Abuja and Lagos to accelerate national advancement in information and technology.
At another level, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), an agency under the supervision of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, has trained and empowered hundreds of thousands of youths in the last four years. Besides, the Migrant Resource Centre established in Lagos and Benin City by the International Organisation on Migration, in conjunction with the Ministry of Labour, is also in furtherance of the objectives of the administration to curb illegal migration that has claimed the lives of thousands of youths. Above all, the signing into law of the Not-too-Young-to-Run bill by President Buhari in November 2018 is a crown on the efforts of the administration in political mainstreaming of youths.
As the world, therefore, converges on Abuja for the Global Youth Employment Forum, let the event serve as additional motivation on social partners to not only sustain but also step up every effort towards surmounting cascading challenges that face youths.
•Alo is Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Global Youth Employment Forum
