In 2014, the then Minister for Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, informed that no fewer than 1.8 million graduates in the country move into the labour market every year. According to her, this data was generated by the National Bureau of Statistics. Very few of these 1.8 million graduates get into employment adding to the pool of unemployed graduates which numbered at 5.3 million in 2014.
We need enabling policies and programmes for bolstering job creation and youth employment in Nigeria. The then Goodluck Jonathan government introduced the YouWin and SURE-P programmes. While YouWin was geared towards graduates, the SURE-P was for those youths who may not have gone through school or did not complete their education. The current administration of Mohamadu Buhari have come up with their own programmes but given that the unemployment rate for youths in Nigeria increased to 33.10 per cent in the third quarter of 2017 from 29.50 per cent in the second quarter of 2017 and that Youth Unemployment Rate in Nigeria averaged 21.73 per cent from 2014 until 2017, reaching an all-time high of 33.10 per cent in the third quarter of 2017 there is no gainsaying that these programmes are not doing much to bring down the unemployment rate.
Statistics show that the Nigerian working age population is growing rapidly and will continue to grow over the next 20years. Urgent steps must be taken to address the question of youth employment. Failure to absorb the large working-age population into productive, formal sector employment is going to lead to so many social problems and dislocations.
The big question is, given the high number of unemployed youths, what is the best move to begin to tackle the problem?
Most young people look at employment as the first priority when they come out of school. But since there are fewer jobs, there is the need for a mindset shift to self-employment. This can only be achieved through continuous engagement to foster self-empowerment.
The youths should begin to look beyond paid employment to entrepreneurship.
But, being an entrepreneur is not a casual endeavour. An entrepreneur must have a foolproof plan of what he/she wants to do to avoid getting involved in a business they know nothing about. Necessary time should be given to researching and studying the sector or area of interests.
One of the biggest challenges to opening up a business is globalization. Entrepreneurs need a global outlook while starting a business. The new-age entrepreneur should think locally and act global.
The entrepreneur must also be aware that technology has provided the tools for everyone to compete and the biggest marketing tool you can have is social media. It has given small companies the space to compete. With only $10 one can boost their advertisements on social media.
An entrepreneur must, apart from having the necessary knowledge and skills set, have the right mindset. A positive mindset is a key to making a success of any venture. You have to personally decide what kind of company you want to start that: it has to fill in a gap of need, and you have to be passionate about it.
Every venture will face many challenges. The difference between success and failure may be how much you care about all aspects of the business which will make you persevere until you succeed.
Young entrepreneurs should seek out mentors in the field they are engaged. These mentors with a history of achievements will tutor them on aspects of the business and inadvertently help them succeed.
Whatever business you want to get into today, you have at your disposal the skills, technologies and expertise to help you achieve them. You just have to look for them and use them to succeed.