Towards a brighter future for youths, the U & I Africa’s way By Ogbiogbiobari Maate In a bid to make impactful contribution towards creating a brighter future for the youths through inculcating in them the culture of entrepreneurship, as it is no longer a news that the Nigerian economy is in conundrum that U & I Africa Clothing, a fashion and clothing business concern with an operational base in Osogbo, the capital of Osun State that specializes in making of topnotch adire fabrics and designs for different segment of people, adopted the mentoring of post – primary aged youths in how to embrace adire making, a popular income generating source among the Yoruba people of South – West Nigeria as its Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR to the society. The underscoring of the gloomy state of the nation’s economic atmosphere has never been merciful to the youths who are always at the receiving end of the harsh realities of the economic bites of the time. Moreover, the rising spate of the burden of unemployment rate among the youth – occasioned by growing population and thousands of young graduates churn out into the labour market annually from the tertiary institutions where a no existent job in the private or public sectors awaits them in the same measure has become a concern for all well-meaning Nigerians because of the attendant challenges it pose for the socio – economic development of the country if the situation is not nipped in the bud. The issue of joblessness amongst youth is a worrisome trend in the polity that has taken the front burner at different discourse where solutions are conceived to defeat the hydra – headed menace yet, permanent solutions to stem the tide has remained eluded. No other time that the issue of unemployment among youths exposed in Nigeria like the fateful Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment exercise earlier in March where an estimated thousands of young graduates in their effort to secure employment in the few existing vacancies in the governmental agency, converged at different stadiums in the country where some unfortunately lost their lives and the citizenry were thrown into mourning over the loss and it illuminated the pitiable state of the hapless Nigerian youths whose future look bleak. The economy of the country is indeed in quagmire which made promoting vigorous entrepreneurship and self – reliance programmes and skills among the youth over the dependency on white collar jobs that are few to accommodate their teeming population has become a panacea. Thus, buoyed on the vision to make salient contribution towards the amelioration of unemployment situation in the country and to drive entrepreneurship and self – reliance that the Nigerian youths deserves that would position them in weathering the prevailing economic storm in the horizon, that U & I Africa Clothing anchored its skill acquisition programmes for post – primary school youths. While explaining the idea behind the concept, Jibril Abdul – Rahman Babangida, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of U & I Africa Clothing, said “firstly, the decision to go into mentoring post –primary school students on how to make the adire clothing is born out of my passion about sharing knowledge and touching people’s lives that will amount to empowering them on how they can become self – reliant and carve a niche for themselves when they eventually pass out of school and they step into the realities of live and the situation in the country. For me, I took the decision to be self-reliant and employed way back in school. I have been in some small businesses on campus while in school to sustain myself but when the opportunity came through the management of my alma mater to train students in skill acquisition to position them as job creators not as job seekers after their school years, I embraced it. Today, I’m forever grateful to the management of Federal Polytechnic for giving me such a lifeline to stand on my feet and I am also using this medium to enjoin other youths to embrace skill acquisition and entrepreneurship, although there are challenges but it would be rewarding.” “We can’t isolate the current economic situation from the school children because they are young now as they would grow up to meet the challenges that the grownups now are facing except things are put in place in the right perspectives to arrest the present economic woes. Secondly, U& I Africa Clothing as a corporate entity, we deemed it necessary to play our part in our own little ways in instilling entrepreneurial spirits in the school children through the saying that ‘catch them young’ in order to destroy the myth of the awaiting white –collar – jobs syndrome. They too will believe that after graduation from higher institutions, that there is an awaiting job for them and this is like a bug that has eaten so deep into the psyche of average Nigerian youth, waiting for the government to provide job, securing jobs in the oil companies or banks that are few to go round for all.” Babangida, a native of Katsina State who studied Office Technology and Management at the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State, also lamented the high rate of poverty and unemployment among working age population. He noted that although government at the different tiers over time has introduced various strategies on poverty eradication and job creation but it is obvious that government cannot do it alone that’s why his company is making significant efforts in supporting the government towards achieving a sustainable development in the society. Ogbiogbiobari Maate, a Public Relations practitioner is a native of Onne in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State. He graduated with the Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Mass Communication from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt in 2008. He is an Associate Member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, as well as a Graduate Member of the Nigerian Institute of Management, NIM. He is the Founder/ Chief Executive Officer of Omniversal Communications, a topnotch Integrated Marketing Communications company dedicated to rendering cutting – edge services to its clients. He can be reached through omaate@yahoo.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 12:13:34 +0000
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