Alas, even as there is a dissipation in the previously yearned-for change, my inner child has the best of me, I still believe. I still maintain as I always have that the greatest ill of this administration is its LACK OF COMMUNICATION.

Well in my initial euphoria, I did write something, which I am unsure if they even received, I even sent a copy to the PA of the Minister of Sports (not a critique as I can’t even imagine the enormity of his task, but it feels as though the emphasis of his portfolio has not been on the youth-to say the least). Without further ado (acknowledging I have already lost 90% of my attention-challenged generation, and only about 5 people will read beyond this), this is my pittance:

Dear Sir,

HOW NIGERIA CAN EFFECTIVELY MANAGE HER RESOURCES FOR INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT

I am writing to speak on behalf of a neglected section of our populace; I speak in the voice of our marginalized youth – a huge segment of the poor.

With all of my heart, I sincerely commend you for providing this platform where we can interact and work out a way to better our beloved Nigeria. Most importantly, in my humblest opinion, this platform not only serves to deepen the conversation and figure out the way forward but also provides a flickering hope…the beautiful hope that Change is real, change is possible and change is here. It signals a change from the norm and states to our youth that finally, somebody cares and we truly matter.

Unemployment is a national disaster of epic proportions waiting to happen.

“We have not been given this country by our fathers; rather we borrow it from our children and have a responsibility to bequeath them a greater tomorrow.”

It saddens me to say that previous generations have not imbibed this advice as well as they could have.
Rampant unemployment is a problem left at the doorstep of future generations – your children and ours yet unborn. Structural unemployment eats at our national fiber and threatens our very existence; thus, it is imperative that solutions are proffered as soon as logically possible.

I for one count myself amongst the ‘functionally, reasonably enlightened’ (an alarmingly, increasingly shrinking group). This means I realize that CHANGE cannot come about by waving a magic wand. Considering the previous mismanagement of our natural resources by past administrations, I do realize that this administration has its work cut out. God willing this government can make a lasting impression that will have a thundering echo into tomorrow and reposition Nigeria to her pride of place by building lasting platforms that will erode and, indeed, definitively diminish the impacts of corruption and mismanagement in the fullness of time.

Here, out of a myriad of suggestions, I have identified three (3) key areas: non-oil commodity export, rural electrification programmes and Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurial Training (TVET), which are viable in order to curb unemployment and enhance our international economic profile while also serving as major earners of foreign exchange.

1)Non-oil Commodity Exports:
Nigeria is a nation blessed with an abundance of natural resources, agricultural and mineral, yet our nation is so criminally-dependent on its oil resources at the detriment of other commodities that are arguably singly as capable of running the Nigerian economy.
Delving into the non-oil commodities market is a sure-fire foreign exchange earner, employment generator and, if handled correctly, can lead to industrialization.

 We must structure a divorce from a petroleum-dependent economy. Petroleum-dependence is a terminal illness which has plagued many a developing country and is best managed by weaning the infantile economy and diversifying through non-oil commodity trade.
Our nation is blessed in both mineral and human resources and deserves to strut about at the forefront of the comity of nations. Mineral resources are not being optimally harnessed, while the state of human resource utilization is a travesty.

2)Rural Electrification Programmes:
We should harness the abundance with which our nation has been blessed via solar and windmill electrification programmes. Hydro-electricity generation remains archaic considering technological advancements in developed economies that have diversified power generation.
We can leverage our tropical sun to generate power in Nigeria. This can be handled by private companies. Windmill electricity-generation requires Public-Private partnership due to technicalities, yet remains workable given our national topography.

3)TVET (Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurial Training):
It is necessary to ensure employability of graduates and provide skills for the skillfully-inclined to ply their trade unencumbered and with fewer bureaucratic bottlenecks. Also to arm the teeming youths and future generations with entrepreneurial skills required to build workable and sustainable Small and Medium Scale Enterprises. This serves the purpose of reducing the over dependency on oil and public spending which eats a huge chunk of our budgetary expenditure.

Our nation churns out thousands of graduates every year; this army of certified job-seekers is constantly marginalized in a saturated labour market and should actually be commended for making it through our questionably staffed and equipped higher institutions, yet their employability is second-guessed at every turn.

Technical Vocational and Entrepreneurial Training Schools can equip and arm this vulnerable section of our demographic set-up by teaching and facilitating these youth with skilled labour training such as Plumbing, Carpentry, Building, Weaving, Tailoring, Janitorial and other such vocational skills to enable them earn a living and provide for others, thus strengthening our economy and reducing unemployment in one fell swoop!

This ties in with entrepreneurship training, which serves to further aid this skilled-labour force to eventually set up small and medium scale businesses which in turn will generate employment and boost the economy whilst creating a new middle class (the absence of which is a major difference between developed and developing economies).

CONCLUSION
Nigeria is blessed, in that we practice a mixed economy. Thus, the management of certain institutions would be greatly improved by adopting Public-Private partnerships in order to achieve real and lasting growth. The best statement of Change from the President Buhari administration would be laying the foundations for a self-sufficient Nigeria at all tiers of government and optimal utilization of our human and mineral resources. Doing this requires the engineering of an economic revolution based on a culture of entrepreneurship, the promotion of non-oil commodity exports and a programme of rural electrification.
These measures will constitute the three prongs of a war on poverty that will level the playing field and guarantee the economic participation of the masses at all levels in an endeavor to build a New Nigeria.

Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Yours Sincerely,
Domman Zumgak Rimdans