European businesses effective in the Nigeria and the European Union has observed that the youth populace in the country have the ability to change the country which was stated in a remark on skill gap in the employment space and use Nigeria’s large youth population to advance economic welfare.
Miss Samuela Isopi, European Union ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS mentioned this at a conference tagged, “Youths, Education, Employment and Skills”, which was moderated of recent by European Business Chambers in Lagos.
The Youth, Education, Employability and Skills is a major concern, both nationally and internationally, for the European Union.
The European Union ambassador noted that the human population has the ability to change Nigeria and at the same time, constitutes confrontations when it comes to demand for good education, skill building and employment.
The EU ambassador was cited to have mentioned the continuous roles of European companies had in Nigeria’s economy, employment opportunities, value creation and imparting the economy of the country.
European Union is a top contributor to the Jubilee Fellowship Fund of the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme(NJFP) and EU member companies are remarkable places for interns with a number of them taking part in the innovative activity.
The partakers at the conference also talked on the European Union and Eurocham Nigeria’s responsibility in the NJFP which is a joint inceptive between the Nigerian government and important stakeholders to create a store of forward looking and employable talents in the country by positioning intellectual young graduates in a yearly paid internships in different companies in the country. The programme focuses on empowering, in five years time, a hundred thousand youths.
The EU affirmed that the youth and their impart in democratic governance are made their priority, considering the coming general elections, by using programmes intended to mobilize Nigerian youth to actively participate in the elections.
Notable presence and speaker at the event were Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, Nigeria’s former Minister of Education and previous Vice President of the World Bank who also presides over The School of Politics, Policy and Governance. Other notable presence at the event were Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo, Lagos state Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folawe Omikunle, CEO of Teach for Nigeria, CEO of Siemens Energy in person of Mr. Seun Suleiman and Mr. Guillaume Niarfeix, the CEO of Spie Nigeria.
It is also worthy of being noted that the Eurocham member companies have committed management trainees programmes, take part in the NYSC plot and universally influence a great number of Nigerian youth through their organisational growth programmes.
