The House of Representatives has called for establishment of more industries across the country, as a way out of the persistent rise in unemployment and social vices amongst the youngs.
To this end, the House on Wednesday mandated its Committee on Labour Employment and Productivity to develop a comprehensive industrial revolution template, featuring both economic and social impact projections within six weeks, on which the parliament could take further legislative action.
This was sequel to a motion by Chinedu Martins, who noted that the unprecedented rate of unemployment may have been the root of the social vices currently experienced in the country, adding that statistics have have shown 33.3% unemployment and the 28% youth unemployment rates amounting to over 11 million unemployed youths.
He said cottage industries, which should have played a critical role in engaging youthful energy positively in the production of raw materials as well as semi–finished products were lacking, not no means of distracting young people from taking up social vices, which to them, were the only alternative for survival and social mobility.
According to him, there was need for a comprehensive industrial revolution, an intervention at this point in the history of our nation, given the recent developments in the political, social and economic spheres of the country which re–emphasize the fact that youths are important stakeholders in the Nigerian project.
“The predominance of industrial clusters in South East Asian countries has motivated industrial growth in the form of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and massive decline in unemployment, making way for stability in the economy, political leadership and lower crime rates as a result of their remarkable success in industrialisation”, he said.
