The Federal Government says it will be building a support base for young people towards the promotion of decent work in the country.
William Alo, permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, gave the assurance at the recent three-day Global Youth Employment Forum (), in Abuja.
Human resource experts as well as social partners, including the International Labour Organisation (ILO), who shared experiences, anchored discussions at the event, and also shared knowledge, expertise and challenges as it relate decent work around the world.
“As a responsible government and a member of the Global Youth Initiative, we will strategically use the outcome of the forum to create a database of international best practices that are proven in promoting decent work for young people around the world, in order to strengthen our initiatives in youth employment schemes,” Alo said.
Dennis Zulu, country director, ILO, expressed satisfaction with the hosting of the event in Nigeria and the active participation of the youth in all its sessions.
Zulu said the full involvement of the youth was a positive development, as it had led to the recommendations that had been put together to produce the blueprint, which outlines the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly the SDG 8.
Zulu, however, observed that many extant policies and legislations that in many countries including Nigeria were not supported by necessary funding and implementation.
He then called on governments to ensure that the budgets that were provided by the development partners and the technical support were used to ensure that policies, programmes and activities were implemented towards meeting the goals that relate to SDG 8.
He further advised that as countries proceed to deal with the challenge of youth unemployment, it was important for them to ensure that they do not leave anyone behind. He stressed the need for all stakeholders to work together to get the job done and ensure that the future for the youth was the one they desire for themselves.
