Training in employment skills plays an important role in equipping young people and adults for work and social integration. To this end, the Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment has held a skill training for the unemployed, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

n  a  deteriorating  job  market,  youth  unemployment  rates  are, at least, twice as high as those in the active population and even higher for disadvantaged young adults.

This has given the Lagos State government great concern. Over the last one year, vocational programmes have been strengthen to improve employment prospects for disadvantaged young adults.

Alongside this,  more flexible training programmes have been adopted, which place greater emphasis on tailoring training to the demands of the job market.

Addressing some unemployed youths in Lagos, who attended a training programme, Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Babatunde Fuad Durosinmi-Etti, said employability skill training is one of the  solutions to solving youth unemployment.


 
He  said the ministry was creating an environment that would be easy to start and sustain businesses. This, according to him, would help  grow  the  economy and create jobs that the state   sorely needs.

To improve productivity, he  said  the government was also taking steps to encourage skills development, stating that the strategy has focused on meeting employers’ skill needs, and support vocational education.

Durosinmi-Etti maintained that the ministry was working with partners to connect young people to work environments and develop the skills required to navigate them.

The priorities for the ministry,  according to Durosinmi-Etti, were to support sustained economic growth and improve labour market conditions, recognise that businesses create jobs, not government.

He said the goal of the programme was to help the youth find jobs by equipping them with the right sets of skills. The programme was designed to benefit the private sector and contribute to the state’s economic growth by providing businesses with affordable labour and  building skills that were lacking in the local market.

The ministry, he reiterated, was dedicated to supporting small businesses and entrepreneurial opportunities.