NIM Pledges Commitment To Youth Empowerment

The Nigerian Institute of Management is to organise a forum that seeks to enlighten the youth on entrepreneurship opportunities in furtherance of its commitment to youth development.

In a statement on Tuesday, the institute said that its second Corporate Breakfast Forum which would hold in Lagos was part of its corporate social responsibility and was expected to provide solutions to unemployment challenges of the youths.

According to a statement signed by the President and Chairman of Council of the Institute, Dr. Nelson Uwaga, the theme of the Breakfast Forum, ‘Youth Empowerment, Entrepreneurship and Innovation,’ will be delivered by the Senior Adviser/Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Africa Business Roundtable, Dr. Nelson Olatunji Olaniyi, while a past President of NIM, Dr. Christopher Kolade, will be the chairman of the event.

Uwaga was quoted as saying that the institute decided to focus on the theme because “the institute is deeply concerned about the rising wave of unemployment in the country which has continued to undermine Nigeria’s growth potential”.

“The dearth of employment opportunities has led to serious inertia on the part of the youths in terms of their innovative and entrepreneurial capabilities”, he added.

The President stressed, “The youth’s mental ability to focus on creativity has been negatively affected, leading to apathy, loss of confidence and psychological inadequacy compounded by lack of adequate exposure to the outside world”.

In addition, the statement pointed out that NIM decided to intervene in the disturbing downward trend of youth employment by making use of its partnership assets with the Business Schools of top Ivy universities across the world in the bid to prepare the youths for innovation and sufficient entrepreneurship skills acquisition as well as expose them to global opportunities that will enable them to compete favourably in their chosen fields.

Uwaga said, “In order to achieve this laudable initiative, the institute intends to sponsor Nigerian youths from all the local government reas of the federation to Judge Business School of Cambridge University, United Kingdom, to undergo a week-long training on Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development over the next few months”.