Nigeria‘s unemployment rate has skyrocketed with COVID-19 pandemic’s impact and technology disruption. Ensuring that youth unemployment is reduced has become a national agenda. It was also the focus of a webinar organised by Knowledge Exchange Centre (KEC), Lagos, DANIEL ESSIET reports
WITH corona virus (COVID 19) and technology disrupting the traditional work place, human capital experts have called for efforts to equip youths for jobs of the future which technology want them to inherit.
They spoke at a virtual forum organised by Knowledge Exchange Centre (KEC), Lagos.
KEC’s founder and Executive Chairman, XL Africa Group, Mr. Charles Nwodo Jnr, warned that apart from the impact of the COVID-19, technology, is gradually eating up traditional jobs, urging the government and the private sector to find new ways of training the next generation of graduates for the jobs of the future.
According to him, most graduates were often not aware of what jobs require; as such needed meaningful skills training to put them on a path to their career.
Stressing the need for graduates to adapt to new trends, Nwodo Jnr noted that job skills were critical in the labour market, adding that new entrants into the workforce require retooling, training and education.
In the future, he added, that more jobs would require highly sophisticated people skilled in digital technology as such, youths needed to adjust to ongoing changes in work life.
According to him, that there was need for a continuous learning among youths to build their capacity to take new jobs with technological innovations used to spur development across the continent.
The Lagos Commissioner, Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs. Yetunde Arobieke, said jobs were at risk.
For this reason, she said the future of jobs had been at the top of the agenda in the state government.
To this end, she said several policies and market-based solutions had been unveiled to address the loss of employment, adding that efforts are being channeled towards helping people stay employable.
In addition, she noted that the school system was adapted to prepare individuals for the changing labor market. One of these is to incorporate information technology to offer new and potentially more widely accessible ways to access education.
She reiterated that the government was committed to developing the capacity of youths to contribute to growth. These involved pre-vocational and vocational technical training for skills developmen.
Key note speaker and Managing Director/Chief Executive, Kairos Business Services Limited, Babatunde Fajimi said it was the first time that KEC was holding a virtual career workshop.
Stressing that digital skills were critical for jobs and social inclusion, Fajimi said: “We live in a post-literate digital society that is driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution(4IR). We are familiar with the Internet, but most of us are oblivious of its enormous digital impact on the economy and how we can position ourselves to thrive in our careers. Our Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is characterised by intense competition for life, and work, and by extension your career. There is an increasing deployment and utilisation of new technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, among others.
He continued: “It is in the light of these realities that you suddenly find yourself after your tertiary education. You begin to think that you have been left behind and are wondering if you have not arrived late at the ‘digital bus station’. Your knowledge and credence of certification belonged to the Third Industrial Revolution (3IR). The irony is that your attempt to correct your skill-labour market deficiency during your National Youth Service year is grossly inadequate to fetch you an interview. This is why I know that your full participation in the Career Workshop 3.0 is a smart choice. You might not have heard it before now. Let me reecho this solemn truth. Only you are responsible for your career. You are responsible for your life. You are responsible for your well-being. You are responsible for your happiness. A lot of things have changed since you left school. Expect more changes because all things change.You should begin to leave the past behind and think of the things ahead of you.”
KEC Executive Secretary Aghogho Akporido, said the organisation provides youths with the employability experiences and opportunities to kickstart their careers.
