Mr Ekuma Eze, the Director, Public Affairs and Communication, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), bottlers of Coca-Cola, has said that government alone cannot solve the problem of unemployment in the country.
Eze said this on Thursday at the end of a three day training workshop for 500 youths in business and life skills in Calabar.
He said that the essence of the workshop was to train and empower the youths to be self-employed.
According to him, the duty of government is to create enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.
He said that a successful private sector will help to create a lot of economic opportunities that would contribute in many ways in addressing some of the societal challenges.
Eze said, “What we are doing here is called Youth Empowered Nigeria; it is part of our global initiative to empower youths between the ages of 18 and 30. The training started in October, 2017.
“Calabar is the 9th city we are holding the workshop, this is the first time we will be in Calabar and in each of the locations, 500 youths undergo the training.
“Meanwhile, the 500 youths are divided into 30 groups working with volunteer mentors to ensure they are grounded in the skill.
He said that the company had reached over 16,000 young people with different skills.
“We are in Calabar in furtherance to that purpose and to support the government to address the issue of unemployment and of course under-employment.
“This is our own modest way of contributing to the Nigerian youths because we believe in them.
“If the Nigerian youths were given the space and the opportunity their peers outside this country enjoy, they could also be globally competitive.’’
Eze further said that the nation’s education system had yet to upgrade to take care of the current realities in the workplace, hence the resolve by NBC to bridge the gap.
He said that any groups that produced the best bankable business idea at the end of the workshop would be assisted to have his company incorporated.
He also said that successful groups would be provided with the initial funding required to actualise the business idea.
“That is our way of creating employment. We’ll mentor them and ensure that they succeed in their venture and by so doing, unemployment is reduced drastically,” he said. (NAN)