Dr David Ehindero, the Executive Director and Lead Strategist, Nigeria Workforce Strategy and Enlightenment Center (NIWOSEC), has said that young Nigerians have untapped brilliance, reserved and unexploited energy.
Ehindero said this in an interview with newsmen on Tuesday in Ilorin.
He said that the creative and unbridled restlessness of youths to create socio- economic change, was not being utilised by the N-power programme of the government.
He said that the N-Power programme, which was introduced as a social intervention programme by the Muhammadu Buhari administration, in fulfillment of its campaign promises, was supposed to be a welcome development.
“It has helped to put money into the hands of some young eligible graduates who hitherto have not been engaged.
“The system permits payment of N30,000 only to young graduates of our higher institutions at various levels.
“That kind of money to a good extent is more than the minimum wage of some states officers who are family men.
“Although this is not fair to the already existing workers but our young beneficiaries will be able to meet their basic needs.
“Also for those who are smart, they can start businesses from savings or cooperatives, among co-beneficiaries.
“The point I am trying to make is not actually about the money but adequate utilisation of the resourcefulness of those beneficiaries who are supposed to be employed as ad-hoc staffers at different Ministries, Departments and Agencies or Schools.
“The waste of human resources in this country is at alarming rate. Little wonder we are yet to reach our desired goal as a people.”
He said that Nigeria as a nation believed too much in oil and gas as the main revenue without tapping into other resources.
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“Even the working civil servants are in employment basically to fill an imaginary space. Visits to ministries and agencies of government indicate that they have no use for human resources.
“It is not surprising that the government is not usually excited about wage upward adjustment.
“It has become a maxim among the political class, that civil servants are liabilities, bunch of naive and useless entities. They see civil servants as mere salary earners without values and clues.
“Civil srvice has been demeaned so much that the government make the workers spend 35 years in service and end up living in pain and penury.”
Ehindero said that government must give adequate training and re-training to the beneficiaries of N-power on work and entrepreneurship, so that they could learn how to find solutions to numerous societal challenges.
He however urged those that have benefited not to be careless in their spending, while advising the new set of beneficiaries to learn from the mistakes of the previous batches.
He further urged the new beneficiaries to make good use of the opportunity for their betterment. (NAN)
