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Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State says the state contributes a lot to the growth of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Point (GDP).
Ikpeazu says over one million Abians, who are involved in producing shoes, bags and garments for Nigeria and other African countries, have contributed to the growth of the Nigerian economy.
He discloses that the made-in-Aba campaign mounted by his government has resulted to Aba producer stamping his products proudly with Made in Aba.
The Abia governor, who stated this in Umuahia at the first Abia Youth Mega Summit with the theme ‘A Productive Engagement For Impact; Igniting Youth Entrepreneurship’ appealed to the various tiers of government in Nigeria to expunge years of experience as one of the requirements for recruitment into various government agencies.
The governor noted that anyone who had never tried his hands on any job at all would not be able to have any experience.
“If I’m asked to make one appeal to all arms of government in Nigeria on behalf of the youths, my appeal will be that we should banish years of experience as precondition for recruitment into various government offices,” the governor said.
Ikpeazu, who recommended skills acquisition as the solution to the many challenges confronting youths in Nigeria, argued that youths with skills would not go cap in hand in search of jobs but rather be self-reliant and employer of labour. He challenged the youths to take their destinies in their hands to become high fliers.
He noted that the greatest gift of Abia State was its human capital, which if provided with the right environment would reach very great heights.
In a paper he presented entitled ‘The NYSC Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme and its implications for a sustainable National Youth Empowerment Strategy,’ the director general of the NYSC scheme, Suleiman Kazuare, said no nation had achieved meaningful development in terms of industrial and economic growth without encouraging skill acquisition and enterprise promotion.
“I think enough is not being done to empower the youth segment of the Nigerian population, because policy formulation and corresponding actions have been left only in the hands of government for too long,” he said.
Christopher Enweremadu, the chairman of the occasion and commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs, thanked the Federal Government for partnering several agencies to empower Nigerian youths as well as Governor Ikpeazu for doing a lot of tangible things to empower the youths of the state.
