Twenty thousand youths will benefit from Prince’s Trust International, a British charity founded by King Charles III to tackle global youth unemployment, the body has said.
Chief Executive Officer, Will Straw, said the aim is to create opportunities for youths and families.
Straw spoke during the launch of its maiden Get Hired programme at Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) house in Ikeja, Lagos.
He noted the organisation had been working in Nigeria for 18 months but couldn’t launch because of COVID.
The chief executive said the NGO would impact youths positively with skills gap, jobs gap and experience gap.
He noted young Nigerians, like their counterparts in other countries, face three issues.
Straw said: “A skills gap: Over 10 million Nigerian children are out of school. Many more leave school early to start earning. Among those who complete schooling, many leave education without the skills to enter the workforce.
“A jobs gap: With far more job seekers than formal jobs, most young people in Nigeria work in the informal sector.
“An experience gap: Young people are told you can’t get a job because you lack experience, but can’t get experience because you can’t get a job.”
He said the trust’s programmes in 23 countries will close the gaps by focusing on life skills young people need.
“Of those who joined our first employability skills programme in Nigeria, 96 per cent were in work or training three months after the programme.
“Our ambition is to support 20,000 young people directly, but what we know is our support has an indirect effect as well on families, communities, a…” Straw said.
Former World Bank Vice President and Board Member, Arunma Oteh, urged the government to create opportunities “that enable young people to live their dreams…”
Present at the event are high-profile industry figures, including representatives of Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSTEF).
The organisers said they got 3,891 applications, of which 120 had job interviews.
Disc jockey and producer, Florence Otedola (DJ Cuppy), urged the prospective employees not to relent.
“For every ‘Yes’ I have, I have about nine ‘Nos’” Cuppy said.
