The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to partner the private sector, with interest in youth empowerment through skills creation and development, to increase job opportunities.
The government noted that the partnership would help upskill entrepreneurs, thereby giving rise to creating more employment opportunities, which would in turn help reduce the high unemployment rate among Nigerian youths.
The Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, disclosed this, over the weekend, when he paid an official visit to the Robotic and Artificial Intelligence Nigeria (RAIN), Iyaganku Quarters, Ibadan.
Dare, who commended the organisation for engaging youths positively for national development through the development of robotics and artificial intelligence, said the initiative is in line with the effort of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to support and productively engage Nigerian youths, who make up over 54 percent of the population.
The Minister stated, “Upskilling entrepreneurs gives rise to creating a number of job opportunities, which will in turn help reduce the high unemployment rate among the Nigerian Youth. It is, therefore, worthy of note to express the Federal Government’s support through the various initiatives, which includes the recently approved Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF). The fund is set up to help youth entrepreneurs access funding for established businesses and innovative ideas.”
Identifying the various ways that Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Technology is fast changing the world and helping people to manage repetitive and difficult tasks, Dare noted that the technology would provide work and better place Nigerian youths, who are regarded as the strength and the future of the nation, on the world map of evolving innovation so they could be at par with their counterparts in other countries of the world.
Dare stated that the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Technology is fast changing the world by helping to manage repetitive and difficult tasks, thereby freeing the human workforce to focus energies on developing a better socioeconomic landscape.
He said, “We can see classic examples of robot deployment in various industries, such as the robots acquired to screen passengers at the airport and the robots that fly planes and even fighter jets. We also have medical robots that help in diagnosis and treatment in hospitals and I know we each can think of many more examples.”
Dare affirmed that the technology, which was introduced by classical philosophers who attempted to describe the process of human thinking as the mechanical manipulative symbol in 1940, has come to stay with us permanently.“
The Ministry aims to partner with organisations such as RAIN in order to cascade Federal Government to add value to the talents of our Youth. Government can’t do it alone, I encourage our young persons to take advantage of opportunities such as those available here at RAIN while we continue to provide resources and enabling platforms for such organisations to grow and have greater positive impact,” the Minister concluded.
