The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry LCCI has called on the Federal government to increase Investment inTechnical and Vocational Education (TVET) skills acquisition to create more opportunities for the Nigerian youths.
The Director General of LCCI, Dr. Chinyere Almona who made this statement while reacting to President Ahmed Tinubu speech on Endbadgovernance said that apart from the supporting academic pursuits through the student loan programme, government should support Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) skills acquisition which is known to have huge capacity to develop and empower our youth to take up emerging opportunities.
She said that Technology, creative and the arts provide great opportunities that can gainfully engage our youth, home and abroad.
She said that there is need for government to ensure that all youth-oriented programmes be fast-tracked such that more youths are rapidly engaged, and others are hopeful of near-term opportunities
She said that critical variables including the cost of doing business, the cost of living (food security), and youth unemployment are seen to have links to many other issues in the economy, like poverty, high inflation, increased hunger, heightened crimes.
While reiterating the importance of quickly implementing the single digit loans to large manufacturers to boost manufacturing output and stimulate growth and the support to small businesses in terms of grants and low interest loans, she said that with the prevailing high interest rate, companies find it too expensive to access credit from the banks.
Commending the federal government for all its efforts to provide policies that will impact positively to growth of the economy, she said there is need to be more time-sensitive and have clear timelines for implementing policies and programmes.
She said a more collaborative approach to policy planning and implementation as being crucial from now on, adding that regular stakeholder engagement with the business community, the media and grassroot mobilization structures is advised.