A Kogi-born student of the University of Benin who recently emerged winner in the category of the Most Popular Student in Nigeria, Emmanuel Oluwasayomi Ahmadu has pledged to support the President Mohammadu Buhari’s vision towards creating an enabling environment for youth empowerment and job creation.
Emmanuel, popularly known as Mr. Voiceover, told our correspondent that the level of recognition and acceptance he enjoys among the Nigerian students will in no little measure benefit the Buhari administration towards the goal of youth empowerment and job creation, especially those in the tertiary institutions.
The uniquely versatile entrepreneur said that with the over 180 million population of the country where about 65% falls within ages 18 and 45 years spread across the over 250 ethnic groups that shaped her diversity, the country’s current rate of unemployed youths stands at over 30 million and still counting. He opines that it is imperative that innovation is given a vital role in other to deal with diverse social vices that has threatened our existence as a country.
Based on his incredible innovations, vast entrepreneurial prowess and level of recognition across the higher institutions of learning strewn all over the country, Mr Voiceover noted that with the rate at which the government proliferates the skill acquisition schemes, as visible across the thirty-six states is alarming. He noted that the trend has turned a higher percentage of the Nigerian professionals, researchers, graduates of tertiary institutions into artisans and traders, thereby not giving these workforce the enabling environment to contribute their innovations and problem-solving researches to the repositioning of the country into a developed society. He called for immediate intervention by the government.
He further cited experts’ projections which has it that by 2025, 85% of Nigerian graduates and workforce will be artisans and craftsmen or women which automatically means that by 2025, our nation will have fewer professionals to drive the new economy to restructure the country.
From this observation, he posited it therefore necessitates the practical experiment of the popular academia slogan ‘knowledge for service’. This, according to him, will make Nigeria a better society if students of Nigerian higher institutions are given the enabling environment and opportunity to contribute their inventive innovations and problems-solving researches to the creation of the Nigeria of our dream.
The student brand ambassador is the initiator of Varsity Connects, a global platform for young innovative professionals and students of higher institutions which currently boast of 10,098 followership across Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, and other African countries.
He recounted that with the most recent project of his team, which is currently at its final stage, that is aimed at uniting all students of higher institutions across the world, this social media cross-platform application platform will not only bring together students of higher institutions and youths but also serve as a platform where young innovative researchers, students of higher institutions and professionals interact to share problem-solving innovations, talents, skills to create a job opportunities and to foster the economy which is geared towards nation building.
Mr Voiceover further reveals that every Nigerian should support the current government’s efforts in repositioning the country which has been due for too long; adding that the youths, most especially in higher institutions of learning across the country, should see it as a necessity to engage in innovative projects that can contribute to the country’s development.
In his words, he said, “Nigerian youths should create things out of the abundant resources and opportunities in this country and that people should stop complaining about avenue or platform; rather they should start with something.
“You won’t need to broadcast yourself to people when you are good at what you do. Create something unique from what you love doing and I bet you, the sky will be your starting point”.
Speaking about his new project, Mr Voiceover avers that the project which currently has a huge followership across many African countries and beyond shows that when the application is launched it will become a society of young professionals united for the course of creating a better society where innovation is the main objective.
