Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, director-general of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde has urged the Federal Government to promote apprenticeship and the acquisition of vocational skills in order to address Nigeria’s growing unemployment rate.
During the recently ended International Labour Conference of the (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland, apprenticeship was a key topic of discussion in the committee.
Addressing the ILO conference in Geneva, the DG said that “apprenticeship has been highlighted as a real method of fighting the scourge with the growing rate of unemployment in the globe and Nigeria facing a huge unemployment issue. There is no denying that, in order to address the ticking time bomb caused by our country’s over 35 per cent unemployment rate and a struggling economy, the government must go outside the norm.
Oyerinde said, “There is no better moment for the government to face our present crisis of increasing unemployment with a thoughtful apprenticeship programme. The discourse on apprenticeship has gained significance around the globe.
It is encouraging to see that Nigeria, via a public-private partnership (PPP) programme with the Industrial Training Fund, is leading the globe in the development of apprenticeship and technical and vocational skills training (ITF). The initiative with ITF continued to be a model project, providing tens of thousands of young Nigerians with transferable skills and competencies that would make them relevant and valuable in the industry and bring value to the economy.
The ILO has also recognised the ITF-NECA initiative as a role model for tackling unemployment and skill gaps in the nation. The conclusions of the ILO committee’s deliberations on apprenticeship also supported the need to emphasise on apprenticeship and skills development. There is little question that the creation of a new international labour standard in the form of a recommendation on apprenticeship was well received by ILO members, according to Oyeridne.
