FG moves to address youth unemployment via cooperative societies – Ngige

Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment, has advocated the use of cooperative and similar enterprises for job creation and youth empowerment in Nigeria.

Ngige gave the charge in Abuja while declaring open the Youth Cooperative Dialogue organised in collaboration with Foundation for Greater Access and Support (F-GAS).

“Unemployment poses a great perennial challenge to many governments across the globe. It creates the single most contributory factor to poverty and is a threat to the economy.

“We therefore must find new ways to create jobs and youths empowerment through the formation of cooperatives and similar enterprises,” Ngige said.

Ngige, who was represented by Mojisola Sonubi, director, Social Security and Cooperative Development, emphasised that cooperative societies remain the largest non-governmental organisations contributing to national economy, being an instrument for job creation and youth empowerment.

The minister said the management of cooperative organisations should be maximally supported and given all the necessary technical and financial assistance needed to boost its effective operations aimed at mass employment generation.

Speaking earlier, Dickson Okolo, CEO, F-GAS, said the youth cooperative dialogue was aimed at using cooperatives to achieve the diversification of the economy towards employment and wealth creation for the teeming unemployed youths and the vulnerable groups.

He added the initiative would help to mobilise Nigerian youths to adopt co-operatives as a business model for self-empowerment, and contribute towards national development.