European Business Chambers in Nigeria (Eurocham) and the European Union Delegation to Nigeria are stepping up collaboration towards helping to address the skills gap in the employment sector and leveraging Nigeria’s huge population of young people to drive economic prosperity.
At a Stakeholders Conference hosted by European Business Chambers in Nigeria (Eurocham) in Lagos on Thursday, participants discussed ways to increase the country’s human capital and enhance employability and economic growth.
Ms. Samuela Isopi, the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS at a stakeholders’ conference with the theme “Youths, Education, Employment and Skills(YEES!),” hosted by Eurocham in Lagos, stated that YEES! are a top concern and priority for the organization, both internally and in its cooperation with partner countries.
According to Isopi, who also serves as the Honorary President of Eurocham Nigeria, the EU, its member states, and EU businesses recognize the importance of human capital in Nigeria’s growth.
She said the both the European Union and Eurocham Nigeria are playing leading roles in the Nigeria Jubilee Fellowship Programme (NJFP), a collaborative initiative between the Nigerian Government and key stakeholders to build a reservoir of innovative and employable skills in the country, by placing smart young graduates in paid 1-year internships in companies across the country. The programme targets 100,000 youths over a five-year period.
Isopi said: “Demography has indeed the potential to help transform Nigeria; but it also poses challenges in terms of demand for quality education, skill development and employment.”
The Ambassador, pointing out that with youths making up 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population, the EU has prioritised the youth across areas of its cooperation with the country, adding that “Demography has indeed the potential to help transform Nigeria, but it also poses challenges in terms of demand for quality education, skill development and employment,”.
The EU is implementing certain regional and national projects as part of the Team Europe Initiative “Investing in Young Businesses in Africa” (IYBA), which was introduced in Nigeria last year and aims to increase youth employment, employability, and entrepreneurship.
She claimed that over 200 young Nigerians have received scholarships under Erasmus+, the EU’s flagship initiative for education, training, and youth development, by 2022, making Nigeria the nation with the second-highest number of Erasmus+ scholarships in the world.
