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Mentoring: A Tool for Youth Empowerment and Employment Generation

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Mentoring: A Tool for Youth Empowerment and Employment Generation
MENTORING: A TOOL FOR YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND EMPLOYMENT GENERATION.

BY

YEMISI COKER

INTRODUCTION:

The world they say is “sitting on a social and economic time bomb”. It is plagued by a cancer that would soon be incurable. This is a result of the rising rate of youth unemployment. Statistics show that there are 1.2 billion youth in the world aged 15 – 24. Global unemployment rate as at 2012 was projected at 12.7%.In Africa, youth unemployment has become a threat to socio-economic peace and stability. Nigeria as Africa’s most populous country is not left out in this threat. There are several ways to curb this malaise but a few would be mentioned here: entrepreneurship, youth development and mentorship. These three must be combined in order to ensure success and longevity of efforts put in place to improve youth employment. This essay focuses on the effects of mentoring.

THE NIGERIAN YOUTH AND UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment rate in Nigeria for the year 2011 stood at 23.9 percent, with youth unemployment at over 50 percent.This increase in rate of unemployed youth in the country is a significant contributor to the rise in crimes, insecurity and negative economic growth.Most youths spend several years in the university to obtain a degree, but fail to get a job after graduation. They roam the streets from one corporate organization to the other looking for white collar jobs that are non-existent. While in tertiary institutions, students treat their studies with nonchalance knowing fully well that there are no jobs in the labor market. Such attitude towards education increases the number of half-baked and unskilled graduates who perform below expectation. This leads to universities churning out under skilled graduates for the over skilled, and unavailable labour market.

THE NIGERIAN YOUTH AND YOUTH EMPOWERMENT

An unemployed youth is an idle minded youth, and ‘an idle mind they say is the devils workshop’. Engaging these idle youthful minds in skill



References: • Rise Networks, “Youth Unemployment In Nigeria: Shocking Statistics, Facts And Why The Future May Not Be So Bright After all”, available online at, (www.risenetworks.org/2013/05/16/youth-unemployment-in-nigeria-is-there-hope-for-nigerian-youth). • Wikipedia, “Mentoring”, (www.wikipedia.com/mentoring). • (http://www.mentoring.org/get_involved/for_mentors/benefits_of_mentoring/)

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