Embrace skill devt, stop depending on white collar jobs, Senate Leader tells graduates

The Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, has appealed to state governors of the 36 states of the federation to invest hugely in the growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and other vocations that can rout unemployment and Poverty out of the system.

Bamidele, who represents Ekiti Central Senatorial District in the Senate, averred that self-employment now occupies the prime as the only option for the productive population to be economically viable given the paucity of white-collar jobs in the system.

The Senator said these in Aramoko Ekiti, Ekiti West Local Government Area, on Wednesday, during the closing of a two-day vocational training for 600 constituents in his Ekiti Central Senatorial District.

At the event, simultaneously held in Ado and Aramoko Ekiti, 130 were trained in soap making, 150 in the non-export sector, while a total of 250 elderly were given financial grants, done in collaboration with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria and Peak Shammah Limited.

This intervention was a follow-up to the 1,900 constituents that had earlier been trained in February as part of the concerted efforts to make the youth population productive and business-oriented.

Speaking at the event, the Senate Leader, represented by his Senior Legislative Assistant, Bunmi Oguntuase, said Nigeria would subdue the twin evils of poverty and joblessness, with a radical focus by the state government on SMEs, entrepreneurial skills, and vocational training.

The Senator warned of the danger inherent in the government paying lip service to develop the entrepreneurial and vocational skills of the youth, describing this as capable of exacerbating the spiraling crime rate in the system.

“We have to live with the reality of today, which indicates the reduction in the level of white-collar jobs in our country; that is a fact we must all accept. Our government must realize this fact, and likewise, the youth.

“Going to tertiary institutions to get certificates is not an end to itself now, but getting jobs requires you to have the skills that can make you stand on your own and employ yourself, rather than seeking jobs that don’t exist in the first instance.

“Our government must be seriously committed to this cause and the bulk of this lies with the state government. They must dedicate huge investment in this sector to reduce dependence on government work”.

Speaking about the significance of the training, Bamidele added that it was undertaken to complement the efforts being intensified by Governor Biodun Oyebanji to extricate the youth population from the burden of joblessness and attendant crises.

“My intention is not only to train these people by experts but also to back it up with financial support that can help the beneficiaries in setting up businesses of their choice.

“My belief is that they too can become employers of labor if they can dedicate their times and energies to pursuing this dream.”

Senator Bamidele stated that his forging a collaboration with SMEDAN and Peak Shammah Limited was geared towards exposing the beneficiaries to experts who have the technical know-how to impact the right skills that can make them set up their businesses, break even and operate seamlessly under the current economic situation.