“As the proportion of working age group of 15-59 years will continue to increase steadily over the next years, Nigeria has the advantage of ‘demographic dividend’.Harnessing the demographic dividend through appropriate skill development efforts provides an opportunity to achieve inclusion and productivity within the country."
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has said the N-Power programme, which has provided jobs for 500,000 young Nigerian graduates in the last two years, has a target of training 10 million Nigerians by 2023.
Osinbajo, according to a statement on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, stated this in a lecture titled, ‘The Challenges of Human Development in 21st Century Africa’ which he delivered at the Oxford University, United Kingdom, on Friday.
He told his audience at the event that the next two decades looked bright for Africa if the continent could remain focused on good governance.
He said human capital development must be a priority of public policy of governments across Africa to effectively tackle poverty and improve long-term development on the continent.
He said, “As the proportion of working age group of 15-59 years will continue to increase steadily over the next years, Nigeria has the advantage of ‘demographic dividend’.
“Harnessing the demographic dividend through appropriate skill development efforts provides an opportunity to achieve inclusion and productivity within the country.
“Over the past two years, through the N-Power Programme, the largest post-tertiary employment programme in Africa, we have been able to offer skills development programmes digitally to over 500,000 young citizens between the ages of 18 and 35. We have set a target of skilling 10 million Nigerians by 2023.”
The Vice President also highlighted the provision of social housing in a Family Homes Fund as a “core plank of government’s empowerment approach, which is expected to provide another 1.5 million jobs by 2023.”