Poverty and disease, insecurity and terrorism, armed robbery and prostitution, illiteracy and thuggery, and other societal vices are direct products of lack of gainful employment by their sufferers, a don has posited.
A Programmes Implementation Officer with the World Bank, Professor Foluso Okunmadewa, made the assertion recently at a Forum organized by the Kogi State Youth Employment and Social Support Operation in collaboration with other stakeholders in Lokoja to iron out how to create sustainable empowerment for the youths.
Professor Okunmadewa, who is also the programme’s officer in the country, said lack of employment was a time-bomb that when it explodes was capable of affecting the functionality of the society.
He advanced the need to create a wholesome social support system that would arrest the restlessness of the youths, saying that the group, being in their active state, if not channeled towards a productive venture was capable rupturing the relative peace in a society.
He said the current insurgency being experienced in parts of the country was as a result of idleness, and praised the Kogi State Governor, Captain Idris Wada for embracing YESSO, a programme created by the World Bank to empower the poor youths in the society.
He said the Skills For Job (S4J) component of YESSO was conceptualized to create jobs that exist for the youths, and not the habit of searching for white collar jobs that do not exist. He said this is done by retooling and empowering them with opportunities that fit their profile.
He described Kogi State as a state with jobs that sell already, but which only very few are taking the opportunity to tap into, saying that with the component, the state is set to witness increase in entrepreneurs and improvement in its industrialization potentials.
