TheCable

The federal government will address youth unemployment through active involvement of critical stakeholders of the economy on job creation, Nasir Adhama, senior special assistant on youth and students’ affairs to President Muhammadu Buhari,  has said.

Adhama, who was speaking at a workshop on drug abuse in Kaduna, said:“The recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which indicates that the unemployment rate in the country climbed to 10.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 required pragmatic approaches to tackle the scourge.

“Even though NBS’ data gave a figure of 22 million unemployed or under employed in Nigeria, it can only be adduced that about 8 million youths may likely be within the category of the unemployed.

“The current administration is working assiduously to ensure that the rate of unemployment is reduced through special interventions efforts, capacity building and skill acquisition where beneficiaries can also be employers of labour.

“Idleness and joblessness can contribute to drug addictions which can squarely be addressed through active involvement of youths in productive activities.

“The youth must be engaged in productive endeavours not only towards contributions to the economic development but also to dissuade them from drug abuses and other social vices.”

The presidential aide, who was represented by youth ambassador, Umar Galadima, also called on the Nigerian youth to watch out for positive developments once the federal government commenced the implementation of 2016 budget.