The Executive Director, Niger Delta Power Holding Company of Nigeria (NDPHC), Engr. Ife Oyedele, has disclosed that to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 on Nigeria as a nation, youths and the creative industry should be the focus.
Oyedele, who delivered the keynote lecture at the 2021 African Youth Day organised by the African Youth International Development Foundation (AFYIDEF), over the weekend in Abuja, also called on the federal government to embrace the youth as creative tools to harness untapped potential in the country.
The event was themed: “Arts, Culture and Heritage; Levers for Building the Africa We Want”.
He said: “The future of any nation, especially Africa belongs to the youths. There are opportunities in the creative industry for youths to display their creative potentials.
“Many countries are battling with unemployment especially with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, we need to refocus on our young people and the creative industry. The opportunities are limitless both in the creative industry and sports’’.
Also speaking, the Nigerian Permanent Representative, AU-ECOSOCC and Chairman Board of Trustees of AFYIDEF, Dr. Tunji Asaolu, lamented the increasing rate of unemployment and called on the government to provide more incentives that will help cushion the heightened spate of unemployment.
“The growing rate of unemployment is becoming worrisome, because the outcome of the insecurity we see in the country today is as a result of the lack of jobs. It is part of what we are calling on the government to look into. We are discussing with meaningful government agencies to see how they can create job opportunities for our youths,” he said.
Earlier, the Executive Director of AFYIDEF, Comrade Blessing Akinlosotu, had called on the youth to embrace art, culture, heritage as a way of living.
Akinlosotu said: “We need our young Africans to begin to see our Arts, Culture and Heritage as the only way of life and try to always represent this through the African continent we are born to be by making sure we remain ambassadors of our culture and heritage to the global community.
Also, the Nigerian Youth Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Raymond Edoh, called on the youth to showcase their creative abilities to the world in order to project the image of the country.
