Gyang Bere, Jos
Former Nigerian Coca-Cola Company Regional Manager Funmi Adefeko says the rise in unemployment in Nigeria and across much of Africa constitutes a grave security challenge and is responsible for poverty on the continent.
She lamented that over 30 million Nigerian youths are currently unemployed, adding that the figure is increasing daily following the turn out of graduates by tertiary institutions in the country.
Mrs Adefeko disclosed this Monday in His at a business skills training for Nigerian youths, organised by her organization, New Identity.
“I am worried over the increasing rate of unemployment in Nigeria and in Africa. The menace has contributed to poverty and security challenges in most African countries and that is what informs the training by my organisation, to reduce the rate of unemployment,” she said at the event.
“Our organisation is giving back to society by giving training to help people create opportunities for themselves and to stop looking for work that does not exist.
“We are still chunning out a whole lot of youths from tertiary institutions. A lot of employees in corporate environments are still retiring, increasing dependancy,” she said.
A beneficiary of the training, Mr Kanu Eliza, blamed a shortage of business skills as the main cause of poverty in Nigeria.
“The problem of Nigeria isn’t the poverty of resources but the poverty of knowledge,” he said.
Eliza vowed to extend the training to others in supporting President Muhammadu Buhari’s quest to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
Another beneficiary, Dorcas Bentu, said there is a need to extend the training to the grassroots for indigent citizens to benefit.