THE Director General of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, Comrade Issa Aremu, has revealed that the institution is set become an entrepreneurship hub for youth skills development to compliment the efforts of federal government aimed at mass decent employment for millions of Nigerian youths.
Comrade Aremu stated this while addressing participants at the 2021 World Youth Skill Day (WYSD) with the theme: “Reimagining Youth Skills Post-Pandemic: Soft Skills for Young Entrepreneurs” held at the Institute on Thursday 15th July, 2021.
In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared 15th July every year as WYSD to focus on the strategic importance of equipping Young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.
The Director General, while commending the United Nations for this initiative, reaffirmed that the aim of the WYSD is to achieve improved socio-economic conditions of the youth by equipping them with relevant skills necessary for self-employment.
Comrade Aremu hailed the commitment of President Buhari to youth employment citing the recent 1000 jobs in 774 local governments through the National Directorate of Employment (NDE). He however observed that sustainable employment lies in industry vans enterprises with skills acquisition for the youth. According to him, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic called for new business ideas and skills acquisition to grow micro, small and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) enterprises.
Earlier, the Director, Entrepreneurship Development Department (EDD) of the institute, Mr Ezekiel Ayorinde, emphasised that the programme was specifically designed to create awareness and help the Nigerian youth become employers of labour.
He said the institute is working towards building collaboration and partnership in programmes concerning the youth in areas of skill acquisition so as to stimulate and drive the economy to the prosperous state in which the founding fathers designed it to be.
The Ag Director, National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mr Aba Timothy Omachoko, lauded the efforts of the organisers of the workshop, observing that the training curriculum of MINILS has been restructured to include this workshop.
The maiden edition of this workshop attracted 35 participants from the public and private sectors, which include, Ministry of Youths and Sport, National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Kwara Phone Technicians Association, Association of Professional Photographers, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigerian Union of Tailors (NUT), Ministry of Local Government & Chieftaincy Affairs, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), KWACCIMA and Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS).
