With a total of 22.4 million Nigerians unemployed or under‐employed out of the 76.9 million total labour force, Worldstage Economic Summit (WES) 2016 will be hosted in Lagos between September 7- 8, 2016 to address the unemployment challenges in the African biggest economy.
According to President/CEO, World Stage Limited, Mr Segun Adeleye , “The alarming rate of unemployment in Nigeria is not only of great concern to the three tiers of government, but also to the private sector and other critical stakeholders of the economy on job creation.
While some people see it as an indictment on the educational system that seems to be churning out ‘unemployable graduates’ it is also being seen as an economic deficiency, with economy having a limitation of the labour force it can sustain by its productivity.”
He said Nigeria’s unemployment rate of 10.4% represents about 14 percent of global unemployment in fourth quarter 2015, the 7th highest in the world with only Kenya, Congo and Djibouti having worse rates in Africa.
“This should be embarrassing when compare with countries such as Qatar (0.2%) unemployment rate, Cambodia (0.3%), Belarus (0.5%), Thailand (0.8%), Benin (1.0%), Madagascar (1.2%), Laos (1.40%) and Guinea Bissau (1.80%),” he said.
He said the statistics that job loss in Nigeria dropped by only 1.29% in Q4 2015 at a period when oil price crashed by 65% could only show that there are other inherent factors outside oil that shape the labour market, which will be reviewed at the summit.
On how an economic summit can address unemployment challenges, he said, “We are in an era where Nigeria’s economic problem can no longer be left in the hand of government to fix alone.
There are organisations and experts that have the knowledge of how to solve economic challenges of any kind, but in most cases, they are either not talking at the right forum, or they are not being heard.
At WES 2016, the government side is going to be represented by ministers, members of the National Assembly, head of regulatory agencies, CEOs of public corporations, top official from state governments; and they will be interacting with representatives of the organised private sector along with local and foreign experts, to discuss series of the sub-themes through which the problem of unemployment in Nigeria will be tackled.”
The expected participants at the summit include the Presidency, National Assembly, MGAs, State Governments, OPS- Oil and Gas, Banking, Insurance, Maritime, Aviation, Mining, Agriculture, Hospitality & Tourism, Entertainment, Construction, Power, ICT, Education, Transportation, Local and Foreign Investors, Media and Other Relevant Stakeholders.
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