The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has launched a new project worth $3million for Senior Secondary schools in Nigeria. This project is aimed at developing entrepreneurship curriculum which will help young minds create their own employment.

The project partly funded by the Government of Japan, will be carried out within the next five years and will target education processes in nine states knowingly Anambra, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Katsina, Ogun, Ondo, and Oyo.

According to Ismail Junaidu, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Research and Development Council (NERDC), the Federal Government through the project plans to make Nigeria, one of the top 20 most industrialized nations by 2020. “To achieve this goal, we need to make sure that young people in Nigeria have the chance to become productive members of the society.”

Nigeria, a country of around 186 million people has a total unemployment rate of 24% of which more than 60% are youths. Annually, about four million youths enter the workforce and only a few of them get formally employed. Therefore a project to develop entrepreneurship knowledge and skills in the country’s formal education system is a welcome development.

Anita Fatunji