NSITF proffers solutions to youth unemployment

.Decries reliance on food importation

The Nigeria social insurance trust fund (NSITF) has decried the Country’s over reliance on imported food items from abroad.NSITF’s acting managing director, Ismail Agaka who spoke during the one day public hearing on extortion of employment seekers by government agencies and recruitment firms maintained that the practice was partly responsible for youth unemployment in the country.

Arguing that there is a huge market for locally produced agricultural produce, he argued that the revitalisation of the agriculture remains the panacea to the unemployment crises in the polity.

Agriculture is one of the solution to unemployment in the country. At 160 million people, there is nothing that is produced that will be a waste. People need to eat on daily basis. It is not a good idea that the country is importing a large proportion of its food needs, when the land mass to produce the food is available,” he said.

Agaka who described unemployment as a cankerworm that is eating deep into the fabric of the society also enjoined the authorities to reorient the youths to take advantage of the enormous job opportunities inherent in the information technology and communications (ICT).

He also enjoined the authorities to fix the energy sector since it would create the enabling environment for the revitalisation of the industrial sector required to offer employment opportunities to nigerians.

Lamenting of inability of policies put in place by the authorities to tackle the unemployment situation in the polity over the years, he said it was unfortunate that people below the age of 18 and above 60 years are not counted among the unemployed in the polity.

He added: “Another group of people usually excluded when carrying out survey on unemployment are unpaid family workers and full time house wives. In Nigeria, only recorded open unemployment is published by the official statistics, which makes it unreliable.

“It is generally believed that if young people are provided with employment opportunities, they can become productive assets and take their part in mainstream society offering the best of their skills and talents.”

In his remarks, the Chairman of the House committee on Labour, employment and productivity, Francis Onyewuchi who decried the extortion of applicants seeking for gainful employment opportunities disclosed that there were 14.4 million underemployed Nigerians.