Lagos commissioner endorses formal structure for youth skills acquisition

Commissioner for Wealth Creation, Lagos State, Tunde Durosimi-Etti, recently endorsed Creative Youth Bootcamp, an entrepreneurship and skills acquisition programme set to create a formal structure and curriculum to help the teeming youth population from low-income background acquire market relevant skills in the performing arts.

Durosimi-Etti said harnessing the demographic dividend of the current youth bulge meant formulating strategies that help them develop requite cognitive skills in order to deliver value, lamenting the disappearance of youth centres, drama clubs and skills acquisition centres.

The commissioner pointed out that the Ministry of Wealth Creation had endorsed the Youth Bootcamp programme and would partner it to drive wealth creation through youth development.

He said: “The creative arts are indeed huge. Recall that Nigeria, after the rebasing exercise became the largest economy in Africa because of the Nollywood. You would have heard of doctors, who turned musicians. We will rehabilitate the Youth Centres and establish more wealth creation outlets.”

Rita Ezenwa-Okoro, founder/CEO, Lead Visionary, recipient of the Mandela Washington Fellowship 2014, convener of the Creative Bootcamp programme, opined that the programme would train 100 people this year between the ages of 16 and 25 years. This year’s bootcamp opens May 14.

Dehab Ghebreab, public affairs officer, United States Consulate General, asserted that the programme was laudable, saying out of 400 applications for funds, the programme got funding from the US consulate because it empowers young people to develop themselves and give back to society.

Experts say youth unemployment is growing at a dizzying rate. In India, which has one of the largest populations of young people in the world, 75 million youth are unemployed and more than 1 million people are added to the workforce each day. In Saudi Arabia, some 70 percent of the population is under the age of 30 and they are not finding jobs. In Nigeria, youth unemployment is as high as 50 percent.