Unemployment: Boys Brigade moves to develop entrepreneurship skills among youths
In view of the changing, Nigerian as well as the global economy, a group, the Boys Brigade Nigeria, Lagos State Council has said that it was determined to drastically reduce unemployment across the country by engaging its youths in meaningful endeavours, such as skills’ acquisition and enterprise development.
This was made known in Lagos on Wednesday by the 7th President of the Lagos State Council of the Boys Brigade of Nigeria, Arc Olusegun Paul Ladega at his investiture in Ikeja.
According to him, the Boys Brigade has, for the past 110 years of its existence in the country, contributed to moulding and building future leaders across the country.
He said given the fast- changing global economy, his group was poised to key into the trend by engaging the youths not only in voluntary activities, but also in meaningful activities with a view to preparing them fully for future challenges.
He said,” We intend to deepen the reach and influence of the organisation. It is our dream to carry further the development of Boys Brigade land in Igbo Okuta, Ikorodu, Lagos into a world-class leadership, skills and vocational learning delivery centre.”
He decried as alarming, the growing unemployment rate in the country, saying, “The brigade is worried about the current high level of youth unemployment in the country, especially occasioned by limited availability of new white and blue collar jobs; the Nigerian economy is not creating enough jobs for our exploding youth population”.
Ladega, who was in company with some of his executive members including Surveyor Fatoki Oluwafemi and Dite-Koki Charles, also advocated balanced educational system to address Nigeria’s challenges.
He said,”We call for the restructuring of our educational system to provide a combination of academic knowledge, vocational and life skill acquisition, as well as moral citizenship training; the Brigade would continue to do its best to influence our youths to live a life of righteousness and moral rectitude in line with our aims and objectives.”
He said as part of their contributions to corporate social responsibility initiatives in the country, the Brigate would continuously visit and assist people who are less- privileged in the society, such as Motherless Babies Home, Old Peoples Home and School for the Blind , among others.
