At the Annual Eurocham Nigeria’s Stakeholders
Conference in Lagos on January 19th 2023, themed “Youth, Education, Employment and
Skills” participants sought ways to raise the country’s stock of human
capital and enhance employability and economic growth; address the skills gap
in the employment sector, leveraging Nigeria’s huge population of young people
to drive economic prosperity.
The Conference was held under the
high patronage of the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms
Samuela Isopi, had Nigeria’s former Minister of Education and ex-Vice President
of the World Bank, Ms Obiageli Ezekwesili as a keynote speaker and also
included a panel session on “Human Capital, a key factor of success for
companies – how to recruit, train and retain talent to secure business growth
in a challenging environment?”. Panelists included Ms Folashade Adefisayo,
Lagos State Hon. Commissioner of Education, Ms Folawe Omikunle Chief Executive
officer, Teach for Nigeria as well as Eurocham Nigeria member companies.
In
his welcoming address, the president of Eurocham Nigeria, Mr Simon Melchior
mentioned that “recognizing the importance for our member companies to
recruit, train and retain in Nigeria highly qualified and committed staff,
Eurocham Nigeria has created a Human Resources Working Group, which is tasked
with coordinating our efforts and formulating our joint recommendations in this
area. We are ready to play our part in supporting as much as we can both
Federal and State Governments’ initiatives enhancing the employability and
productivity of Nigerian young professionals.”
Ambassador Isopi said that “Youth,
Education, Employability and Skills (YEES!) are also a top concern and top
priority for the European Union, both internally and in its cooperation with
partner countries”. Ambassador Isopi, who is also an Honorary Member of
Eurocham Nigeria, described human capital as key to Nigeria’s development, and reaffirmed
that the EU, its Members States and EU businesses recognised this in their
engagements with the country.
Both the European Union and Eurocham
Nigeria are playing leading roles in the Nigeria Jubilee Fellowship Programme
(NJFP), a collaborative initiative between the Nigerian Government and key
stakeholders to build a reservoir of innovative and employable skills in the
country, by placing smart young graduates in paid 1-year internships in
companies across the country. The programme targets 100,000 youths over a
five-year period.
In her keynote address, Ms Obiageli
Ezekwesili gave a thorough overview of the Nigerian primary, secondary and
tertiary education system, underlined the importance to get literacy and
numeracy right at the primary level but also highlighted the need to involve
the organized private sector in curriculum reform, to ensure youth
employability. Lagos State Honourable Commissioner of Education, Ms. Folashade
Adefisayo shared Lagos State’s perspective and experience in ensuring school
attendance across Lagos State and a significant increase in the WAEC success
rate (from less than 40% to about 80%) over the past years. She also offered a concrete
venue for collaboration between Lagos State and Eurocham Nigeria, which will be
the task of the organization’s newly established Human Resources Working Group.
European companies continue to play a
key role in Nigeria’s economy, providing qualified employment, creating local
added value and contributing to the country’s economy in a positive,
sustainable manner. All Eurocham member companies also have dedicated Trainee
Programmes; participate actively in the NYSC scheme; and impact thousands of
young Nigerians through their in-house human resources development programmes.
