By Victoria Hanson Lagos State House of Assembly lawmaker, Hon. Adedamola Kasunmu has promised to tackle unemployment in his constituency.
He stated this at the weekend during the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Lagos State Council annual family funfair/ school debate held at Eko FM multipurpose hall Ikeja Lagos.
Kasunmu who is a member representing Ikeja constituency 2, said that the National Bureau of statistics reported that the alarming rate of youth unemployment which stands at 50%.
The rate he said if calculated with the current population growth rate of 2.8 per annum with an exploding national population of over 170 million, with this statistics, the country would discover that there is a huge challenge on ground.
In his word, “shortly after I was sworn in as an honourable member of the 8th Assembly representing Ikeja constituency, I set up a Youth Employment Opportunities Department where job seekers in the constituency can submit their CVs for possible employment opportunities, I can tell you that do far we have received over 300 cvs and we are still counting.
“This shows how scary the unemployment situation in our country is. We have been working on these cvs, some have been luckily offered employment and some are still waiting for their turn. We are also looking at how we can empower some of them with startup capitals so that they can stand on their own and generate employment in return” he stated.
While highlighting some of the challenges of unemployment and poverty in the society such as leadership, security governance and others,the Assembly man who is also the chairman, House committee on youth and social development explained that these have been identified as extremely inimical to human and societal existence and also a major impediment to adequate human capacity building as well as material utilization, noting that these has posed a threat and a critical dimension in the country.
He discovered that in spite of the numerous policies and programmes initiated by what he termed as successive administrations in Nigeria to address the issue of poverty and unemployment, no genuine result has derived from it.
He listed the interventionist programmes to include National Directorate of Employment (NDE), National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) and other scheme have yielded little or impact in the area of youth empowerment.
He however condemned the incessant attitudes of some of the employment schemes who claimed to be a channel of help to the youths but later frustrated the lives of the youth, siting an example on the cases of thousands of youths who were given employment under the platform of SURE-P scheme in Lagos by chieftains of the former ruling party, after exploiting and using those youths for jobs on the Federal Highway in Lagos without adequate compensation, and where at the same time collected thousands of naira from each of the youth by dubious officials under the guise of processing employment for them, at the end of the day, the SURE-P scheme collapsed leaving those youths on joblessness and frustration. And also the case of hundreds of youths who lost their lives and resources during the tragic immigration services recruitment across the country in 2004.he stressed.
He therefore commended the leadership of the state Governor, Mr. Akinkunmi Ambode for establishing the ministry of wealth creation and employment in the history of Nigeria, describing it as a laudable initiative which he said was yielding fruitful results in the state and called on other states to emulate Lagos in order to curb the menace of youth unemployment in the country.
The NAWOJ chairperson Mrs Dupe Olaoye Osinkolu said that the essence of their annual events was to encourage the youths and children in the society to work towards being great leaders of tomorrow in the country and to also be guided them in developing themselves academically and choosing their careers effectively.
She appealed to mothers to also help in grooming their children in a proper way by laying a solid foundation as this would help in preparing the children for a brighter future.
While maintaining that women are the nation,the chairperson explained that if a mother doesn’t impact a good knowledge and training on her child,she has definitely failed the nation.
Also speaking, the former national President of NAWOJ, Mrs Oladapo congratulated the organizers of the event for choosing a skillful topic for the youths which also revealed what was expected of them.
She employed the youths to be serious i
On their academics and strive to make a difference in all works of life,as the slogan of change implies.
The theme of the event was “Progressive Youths Healthy Nation.
Highlight of the event was the school debate competition by four different schools in the state .
Adebayo Mokuolo college Oba Lagos was declared the winner. Gold trophy was donated to the winning school.
