The Minister of Youth and Sports, Chief Sunday Dare, has charged youths in Oyo State to strive to acquire skills aside their educational attainment in order to move themselves out of poverty lane.
The Minister who called himself “the No. 1 Youth in Nigeria”, gave the advice recently while addressing some youths in Ogbomoso Town. He emphatically said that: “there is no job in government”, stressing that, “politics can only feed you for a season, but vocational skill can feed you for life”.
While dissuading the youths against the urge for white-collar jobs that are almost non-existent again, Dare said about 350,000 jobs are available on cyber security which the Internet savvy youths can explore and take themselves out of the unemployment market.
He said: “Few weeks ago, we did a research in my Ministry and we found out that there are about 350,000 jobs in this country for cyber security experts. The phones you are holding could be hacked into and you will need a cyber security expert to build a fire wall against the attack. Across the world, more than 4 million jobs are out there for youths on cyber security. The jobs are there, but the youths that have the knowledge are not there. We advertised sometime and 61,000 youths applied across the country. We have trained 31,000 of them in six weeks. 100 of them were excellent and they will get their certification. Once they get their certification, they can work anywhere in the world. You don’t have to have a degree; you just have to be smart. To some of you, there is nothing you cannot do on your phones. Apply that knowledge for your advantage”, he said.
According to the Minister, it is not compulsory that a University degree be got before anyone could live a decent lifestyle, citing example of some youths that had been trained in POP making and CCTV installations.
“We know how much we are paying those handling our POPs and Solar installations. Many of those youths. don’t have more than O’ Level results and they are making good money in their vocational skills. Anything you want to do, ensure you have additional skills.
“One of the boys that we trained in the art of CCTV has set up offices in five states. Every single business needs CCTV, and it is so easy once you have the knowledge and equipment. So, my advice is that you should empower yourself and create wealth for yourselves. There is no job in government”.
Noting that many of the youths these days want to be involved in politics, the Minister said: “Politics can feed you for a season, skill can feed you for life. When you have a means of likelihood, you can feed yourself and you have a career. You take care of your family. You can marry; you can do many things. That is what comes first”, he stressed.
Ahead expiration of his tenure as a Minister, Dare disclosed that he was planning a Boot Camp in March 2023. “It is going to be the biggest one in which youths will be trained in 15 different skills for three weeks and they will be given the certification and equipment, and they will build the knowledge. The Boot Camp is in Oyo state but I am going to do it in Ogbomoso. It is going to be for 1,000 youths to benefit. That will be my parting gift for the youths”, he said.
Dare nevertheless enlightened the youths on a fast and innovative way of getting out of poverty when he said: “Now there is a video online. It is called DIY (Do It Yourself). It is a 15 minutes video. If you watch it 10 times, you will become one of the best painters. It will teach you what paint you should use; how to mix it; what type of brush you need to apply it on the surface and it will just be like it is done by a professional. My house in America needed painting about five years ago. The cost of paint then was $150. The Oyinbo painter would have collected $1,200 for the painting. That was how I went to DIY and learnt how to do it. Though the painter would have spent four days to do it, I used 12 days to do it, and I paid myself $1,200. The painting is still in my house till today”, he said.
