Fayo Williams, an entrepreneur, has expressed concern about the country’s rising unemployment rate, proposing for the construction of a national job portal as one solution to the problem.
The licensed vocational education trainer on Thursday described the country’s unemployment rate, which is predicted to reach 41 percent this year, as “frightening” on Channels Television’s program.
While speaking on the show, Fayo Williams said “the last speaker spoke about the unemployment rate. It is frightening.
“In a country like Nigeria, by now, we need to put things in place like having a national job portal.”
She claims that the lack of a national job platform in the country makes it difficult for recruiters to find talent, which would contribute in closing the employment gap.
“There are vacancies in various private organisations at different times and we don’t have a centralised portal where we can type in our spec, and qualifications and have a couple of candidates come up,” she explained.
“So, we are not really helping ourselves by not having that.”
Digital skills
Aside from that, she advocated for greater emphasis on digital skills, which would aid in the empowerment of young.
“Another thing we are not leveraging on is the tech and innovation,” she added.
“If you have been able to attract a Mark Zuckerberg to Nigeria, it means we have that growing army of youths who are just waiting to be empowered using the structure of possibly the innovation hubs, teaching these youths digital skills and then being able to export Nigerian talents to the world in the right way, not just ‘japa’.”
Williams also wants the government to create a climate conducive to economic growth. Citing a recent incidence of multiple taxes, the entrepreneur stated that while various steps have been taken to resolve the issue and other concerns affecting businesses, the situation should improve.
“The enabling environment is not really what it should be,” she added.
