Rt. Hon. Adeoye Stephen Aribasoye, the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, has urged students, youths, and school leavers to equip themselves with essential skills to become creators of job opportunities rather than mere job seekers.
Expressing concern over the escalating rate of unemployment in the country, the Speaker identified skills acquisition as a potent solution to combat unemployment, alleviate poverty, and make a positive impact on the grassroots economy.
During a meeting with the management of the Ekiti State Office of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), led by the state Coordinator, Mr. Hakeem Olugbenga Sanusi, who paid an advocacy visit to the Assembly Complex, Aribasoye emphasized the Assembly’s eagerness to collaborate with the NDE in empowering numerous indigent citizens across all 26 state constituencies and pull them out of the clutches of unemployment.
Aribasoye underlined that the Assembly provides an excellent platform to engage with the grassroots population and tackle the pressing issue of unemployment effectively.
Acknowledging the current economic realities that indicate a scarcity of white-collar jobs, Aribasoye stressed the significance of the younger generation equipping themselves with valuable skills to remain relevant in this era and also to create job opportunities for themselves and others.
He highlighted that job creation holds a central place in Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s six-pillar agenda, which the state parliament fully supports, aiming to diminish poverty and empower the citizens of Ekiti State with economic independence.
The Speaker said: “Beyond certificates, there is need for our people, especially the youths, to acquire skills which will aid self-employment. One of the biggest challenges in present-day Nigeria is unemployment which is at an alarming rate, and white-collar jobs are no longer there.
“It is one thing to get people trained, it is another thing to get them empowered. The result is in the number of people who are self-sufficient after the training. You need feedback mechanism to know that that is how to measure success.
“The Assembly will collaborate with you; we are representing the whole state and if you want to do anything, you need to run it through the House of Assembly. We represent the people at the grassroots, and you have taken the right step in coming to the right place.
Speaking earlier, the Ekiti State NDE Coordinator, Sanusi, said the agency was established by law to drive the employment and job creation initiatives of the federal government in its bid to boost the productivity of Nigerians.
Sanusi disclosed that since the NDE was established in Ekiti State, it has reached out to over 50,000 people in the state on training on various vocational skills to make them stand on their own economically.
He added that the NDE is looking at collaborating with the Assembly to facilitate training and empowerment of people at the grassroots in the areas of agribusiness, entrepreneurship development training, and special programmes to take care of the vulnerable people, women, and artisans.
The NDE chief said: “These areas of collaboration, if well harnessed, will help the elected government to fulfill its mandate on job creation, take the youths off the streets, rid the society of thuggery and insecurity, as well as discourage them from societal vices.”
