By Abisola THOMPSON
Dr Dikko Radda, the Director-General (DG) of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), has lamented the high rate of unemployment in the country.
He stated this in Yenagoa on Thursday at the opening ceremony of the sensitisation programme on Young Business Owners in Nigeria, Y-BON.
Radda, represented by the Executive Director, Enterprise Development and Promotion, SMEDAN, Ibrahim Abdulmalik, said there was no doubt that the unemployment situation in Nigeria has reached a crisis level.
He said that available statistics showed that only one out of every 100 graduates was sure of getting a job in the country.
The director general pointed out that one of the major causes of unemployment was skill shortages.
The SMEDAN DG said it was towards addressing the challenges of unemployment that the agency initiated the Young Business Owners in Nigeria.
He said Y-BON was a platform where existing entrepreneurs and cooperative societies were selected for support aimed at reducing fundamental challenges that usually confronted small and medium businesses.
“It may interest you to know that in 2018, a total of 460 business owners were supported with work places in Anambra, Kebbi, Kogi, Cross River and Osun States.
“For 2019, Bayelsa, Ogun and Kaduna States have been selected.
“At the end of the training and capacity building, 104 Bayelsa youths are to be trained and presented with grants to rent shops and grow their businesses.
“The programme will not only produce skilled labour but will also provide jobs for the high number of graduates that annually enter the Nigerian labour market,” he said.
The Bayelsa state Commissioner for Employment, Labour and Productivity, Chief Collins Cocodia, commended the youths for developing the consciousness and willingness to engage in business enterprises.
Cocodia urged the benefiting participants to take their training seriously.===NAN
