Yesto30, a non-governmental organisation, has expressed confidence in the ability of Nigerian youths to be reliable future leaders that can establish themselves in the global stage.
This position, Yesto30 believes, can be accomplished if experienced professionals and entrepreneurs create opportunity to mentor, counsel youths below 30 years of age thereby providing balanced development of self-career, family and community consciousness in them.
“The world is waiting for us to provide young workforce. By the year 2035, the reality is that Nigeria is expected to be one of the few countries that will be supplying the youth workforce, majority of the youths workforce will be 35 years below,” said Wonuola Adetayo, founder of Yesto30.
“It’s about time we started focusing on the people that are 30 years and below to groom them and prepare them to be ready for that season when we will have that massive opportunity as a nation to rip the dividends of our demography. This effort is made to call attention for the need to train our young people for the global working,” she said.
Adetayo, who spoke during the induction, said that by 2030 Nigeria will be one of the few countries in the world that will have young workers in plentiful supply. These youths, she says, and not oil, will be Nigeria’s most valuable resource in the 21st century.
Speaking further, Adetayo said the goal is to train 1,000 youths as career and business leaders by 2025.
“I believe I have a calling to impact into lives positively. I have impacted before now through my career, church and I feel that we can expand that number widely if I create a platform using the experience to mentor these youths.
‘‘Many directors and CEOs have worked with me and I am sure that we can move many more youths to take on the work. Our goal in the next ten years is to have raised the next generation who will take on the world. We want to have launched 1000 under 30s Nigerians by 2025,” Adetayo said.
Also speaking during the induction, Remi Adetayo, chairman of the occasion, emphasised the importance of mentoring, saying many young graduates walk the streets in search of employment without success and not knowing what to do with their certificate, many become depressed or join bad gangs.
‘‘There is need to get people who can mentor them and help them think outside the box such that even if they don’t get white collar jobs, they can be useful in other areas,” he said, adding that this would help many young people discover their potentials and have people they can look up to.
‘‘We are impacting lives of people who will impact on the lives of others, here people will come out with similar ideas more people will get involved and more lives will be impacted on,” he added.
ANGEL JAMES
