The youth in the northern region have been urged to pick up entrepreneurial skill-sets so to make themselves easily employable.
According to some successful entrepreneurs, relying on government or the formal sector will continually limit the youth from getting employed.
They believed the government sector is overly occupied and can only cater for a limited number of people. Speaking to Zaa News, entrepreneur and author, Mr. Ibrahim Mustapha said the lack of capital shouldn’t scare young men and women from starting something on their own.
Mr. Mustapha, who is also a motivational speaker, said the basic tool that should be used by young people to become as successful as he has, is believing in oneself.
He also encouraged the youth to identify who they are and what they can do and also keep learning on a daily basis. Education, they say, is the key to success but Mr. Mustapha believed that the key to educational success depends on the individual’s capabilities to make a difference.
Mr. Ibrahim pointed at unemployment data to emphasize his point that the youth should rely more on themselves than counting on authorities.
In 2017, the unemployment rate was a sobering 11.9 percent with 1.2 million people from 15 years and older estimated to be unemployed. Out of this number, about 714,916 are females, representing 57.2 per cent and 535,997 are males representing 42.8%.
To this end, Mr. Ibrahim, in an interview with Zaa News’s Jonas Biawurbi, called on the youth in the north to look beyond the formal sector by creating their own employment. He also advised them not to worry about the stigma they will face in society when they start something.
Zaa News looked at the youth unemployment rate from 2007 – 2017 and it was revealing; for a whole decade, unemployment among the nation’s young people fell steadily. In 2007, youth unemployment was 8.06%, 2008 – 8.99%, 2009 – 9.82%, 2010 – 10.62%, 2011 – 9%, 2012 – 7.37%, 2013 – 4.56%, 2014 – 4.51%, 2015 – 4.51%, 2016 – 4.72%, and 2017 – 4.9%.
BY: JONAS BIAWURIBI
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