Simon Kolawole, Shina Peller to address youth unemployment at Citizens Conference

Simon Kolawole, founder of TheCable, will deliver the keynote address at the Citizens Conference 2020.

Other speakers at the conference include Shina Peller (pictured), a member of the house of representatives, and Bolaji Abdullahi, former minister for youth and sports development.

The conference is scheduled to take place virtually on October 24.

In a statement on Friday, Seun Awogbenle, convener of the conference and co-founder of Millennials Active Citizenship Advocacy Africa (MACAA), said the conference themed, ‘Turning Ideas into Opportunities’ will address the unemployment question, provide a roadmap on maximising Nigeria’s large youth population and harness their huge reservoir of potential for growth, productivity and competitiveness.

“Unemployment remains Nigeria’s pressing challenge. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s unemployment rate at 27.1 % is the highest in the country’s history,”Awogbenle said.

“More than 21.9 million people are currently unemployed and over 2 million entrants join the labour force annually. Clearly, the labour market is unable to keep up with the rising demand.

“To prevent the situation from turning into a tragedy, Nigeria needs a clear agenda on job creation and access to economic opportunities.”

Also slated to speak are Dipo Awojide, founder of BTDT Hub; Deyemi Okanlawon, actor and creative entrepreneur; Morayo Afolabi-Brown, TV host; JJ. Omojuwa, chief strategist, Alpha Reach; Steve Babaeko, founder of X3M Ideas, and Fatima Mamza, CEO of Mamza Beauty.

Citizens Conference, which began in 2018, is an annual convergence that empowers young people to lead the way in public good, social change, maximise their creative ideas for innovation, and provide solutions to problems in their community and region,