Rotimi Agboluaje, Ibadan
Worried by the staggering rate of unemployment among youths in the country, the Special Adviser to Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, Hon. Afeez Bolaji Repete, has urged the youth in the state to look inward to explore the potential in the state.
Hon. Repete implored the youth to stop searching for white-collar jobs and charged them to be entrepreneurial.
Speaking with journalists in Ibadan, Repete stressed that there is a need to change the orientation of seeking for white-collar jobs.
“The youth must look inwards, do business and explore available opportunities we have in the state.
“Oyo has a lot of potential. The greatest people I’ve known are not people doing white collar jobs”, the Special Adviser said.
Speaking on the program of state government for the youth, the governor’s aide said:
“We’re partnering with Bank of Industry (BoI) whereby we would train over 33,000 youths in the state. We have Youth Village along Oyo/Ibadan and Ife. We’re trying to develop the place.
“We’re partnering with some developers so that we make it a world standard. Part of our effort is to train some youths across local government areas. We’re trying to have 5,000 from different local governments that would be trained on various vocations.
“The State has its counterpart funds. We met the conditions laid down by the BoI. Currently, Oyo is among the 10 states that have complied with regulations and rules guiding the taking off of the program”.
He added that the project was for those who have existing businesses registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to expand their businesses.
Continuing on the state government’s plan, the special adviser said Oyo Agric which is one of the youth-focused program, had employed more than 1,500 youths.
“So we’re doing everything possible, looking at all available avenues, to get our youths employed and make sure that we get them engaged positively”, he stressed.
