A recruitment and job search platform, an affiliate of The African Talent Company, Jobberman Nigeria, has emphasised the need for the government to focus on the informal sector.
The company said this is in a bid to improve and retain Nigerian youth economic sustainability.
Disclosing this at the company’s roundtable event themed “A Pathway To Sustainable Economic
Transitions For Young People,” in Abuja yesterday, Jobberman’s CEO, Oreoluwa Boboye, noted that Nigerian youth who are unable to get a white-collar job should be assisted to groom their business, adding that it also helps the nation’s economy.
According to him, the Nigerian government really needs to pay attention to the sector, as research has shown that 80% of the country’s economy is driven by the informal sector.
Speaking at the event, he said, “A typical Nigerian dude is not lazy. A typical Nigerian dude is doing some job counted as hustle that can pay his/her bills. To contribute to the nation, there should be marketplaces for fragmented led verticals, launch of multi-channeled skills training programmes, drive formalisation and optimisation of associations within the informal sector.”
Speaking on the achievement of Jobberman in the stabilisation of youth in the informal sector, the CEO of The African Talent Company, Hilda Kragha, stated that the company has found the youth where they are and has created a strong ecosystem around them, such that the informal sector for young people is no longer precarious.
She further explained that the company desires to see improvements in the livelihoods of youth in the sector as well as reduction in the social vices.
Also, head of Partnerships at The African Talent Company/Program Manager, Partnerships at Jobberman Nigeria, Ahmed Alaga, revealed that the informal sector presents itself as a great opportunity to the nation, stating that the sector contributes 50 per cent of the nation’s GDP and 90 per cent of Nigeria’s employment based on the research done by the company.
According to him, “We are the largest young population, and I strongly believe that in the next couple of years, Nigeria has only two options. One, we are either the largest workforce in the world based on our population or the largest criminal force in the world. The only aim is to see how we address that challenge by providing the right tools, the right resources, assets, and agency for young people to be able to take advantage of this opportunity and access the opportunity to earn an income or to have some sort of dignified job at the end.”
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