By Success Afolayan.
To tackle the exponential increase in youth unemployment rate in Ekiti State, an ex-Senior Legislative Assistant at the National Assembly, Hon. Adesola Gold Adedayo, has appealed to Governor Biodun Oyebanji to place high premium priority on promotion of commercial farming and technological innovation.
The All Progressives Congress chieftain, advised that encouraging the youth into flourishing businesses in commercial farming and ICT, has potent capabilities of reducing the geometric increase in unemployment rate, lamenting that Ekiti has one of the highest graduate unemployment index in the country.
The politician, said the good atmospheric condition, expansive arable land and high level of educational attainment among Ekiti youths will buffer the success of the two businesses in the state if encouraged and promoted to a higher pedestal.
Adedayo, in a statement made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti, praised Governor Oyebanji for including agriculture and human capital development as pillars of his policy, urging him to swiftly roll out his plans in these sectors to rescue the youths from despondency.
He stated that the 2,600 laptop computers distributed to 65 secondary schools under the Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), a world bank and Ekiti State Government’s propelled programme, was a clear attestation and veritable platform to promote ICT innovation in Ekiti.
Adedayo lamented that the recurrent cases of political thuggery and the spiraling web of internet fraud would be tackled in Ekiti if the government can make the right investments in the two strategic sectors .
He said; “Singapore with a scarce population of 5.9m people, makes a staggering sum $28.4 billion in Information and communicaction industry in 2021.
“In the same year, in Malaysia, the ICT contributions to the economic growth skyrocket to 15.6%, which translated to a sum of N11.2 trillion in real monetary terms. This is a country with a population of 32 million people.
“But Nigeria with a population of over 200m people has ICT GDP’s aggregate contributions of N12.49 trillion in 2022, which indicated that our vast productive population was not optimally utilised in this sector compared to Malaysia.
“Statistics showed that Taiwan, with a population of 23.4m people had its annual GDP in agriculture increased to $96.06m in 2022 due to right investment by government.
“It is my conviction that Ekiti with a population of about 3.5 million, with Nigeria’s available total population of over 200m people to provide cheap labour and the right purchasing power should also up its game in agriculture where it has the best comparative advantage”.
He advised Governor Oyebanji to contemplate the building of a modern Computer Village in the Federal government’s proposed Free Trade Zone to enhance people’s knowledge and business consciousness in ICT.
Adedayo solicited the sustenance of the Land Clearing programme initiated by the immediate past government of Dr Kayode Fayemi, where acquired lands are prepared for government for planting, to serve as incentive to the civil servants and arouse unemployed youths’ interest in farming.
