By Yemi Itodo
The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, passed through second reading, a Bill seeking to create funds that will be used to provide financial support for Nigerian youths to tackle the worrisome unemployment and under-employment in the country.
Titled: “a Bill for an Act to make Provision for the Establishment of Youth Entrepreneurship Development Trust Fund and a Management Team to Administer the Funds; and for Related Matters (HB. 1448),” the proposed legislation is sponsored by Rep. Farah Dagogo from Rivers State.
In his lead debate, Dagogo said when passed into law, the legislation would not only stem the ugly trend of unemployment and under-employment being currently experienced by youths in the country but also serve as financial succour for them and bolster the country’s dwindling economy.
The lawmaker explained that the Bill considers the relevance of the youths in the society as paramount as it is hoped that the proposed Youth Fund law would provide a vehicle for assured socioeconomic security for them.
”Ensure reduced unemployment, diminish social vices and produce a confident and global worthy citizen in the average Nigerian youth”.
“This Bill to me is one of the catalysts that would stem the tide of some of the hostilities, we are currently experiencing in this nation, especially from the youths of our great country, who represent about half of our entire population and over 40% of whom are currently unemployed or under-employed, but are no doubt referred to as the emerging leaders of the nation.
“This bill seeks to create a fund which shall be used to provide financial support for Nigerian youths with entrepreneurship skills, and provide a vehicle for assured socio-economic security as well as galvanise them to become self-reliant, employers of labour and captains of industry. The ‘Youth Fund’ will not only diminish unemployment and the social vices that characterize the Nigerian society today but would also serve as a strong indicator that the country is very particular about its youths and has them in its plan.
“The Nigerian state needs to protect its own, the youth, who arguably constitutes more than half of the country’s population and are the future leaders.
“There is no gainsaying that the youth have been obliterated; we have a colony of them suffering from unemployment or underemployment and the state is aware and not oblivious of this fact. Year in and out, thousands of Nigerian youths are churned out of tertiary institutions but the state does not have enough carrying capacity to empty them into.
“This is indeed a big challenge because the idle mind would always be the devil’s workshop. This fact has led to the pendency of crimes and criminality in the society. This bill intends to cure those ills,” Dagogo said.
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