ILO decries high rate of workers in informal sector in Africa

Joy Obakeye

The Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Guy Ryder has tasked the federal and state governments on creating decent job opportunities for the teeming youths in the country.

Ryder who disclosed this at the ILO Country Office in Abuja, was reacting to the high percentage of young workers in the informal the sector in Africa, which he described as “an unprotected work.”

Ryder noted, “The challenge of creating jobs for young Nigerians is very high on the National Policy Agenda” as it is around the continent of Africa and in the world. But, “there are over 255 million youth across the globe who are neither employed nor in training”.

While stressing the need to create a decent working environment for youth, he said “in Africa, 95 per cent of young workers is in the informal sector, which is an unprotected work. It is a vulnerable work which falls below the ILO standards”.

Ryder called for “microeconomic policies, endowing young people with skills and education they need labour market policies, youth entrepreneurship and rights of young people” as some of the ways to curb youth unemployment.

He said the ILO is committed to strengthening the bilateral relations with its Nigerian partners to mitigate the menace of unemployment.