The president of the Unemployed Youth Association of Nigeria (UYAN), Mr. Casmir Irekamba, has urged corporate organizations and multinational corporations to allocate all available funds for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) towards the empowerment of Nigerian youth.
Irekamba disclosed this on Wednesday to newsmen during the National Executive Council meeting organised by the group in Port Harcourt.
The group president assigned government agencies and parastatals the task of developing youth, stating that the country’s vulnerable youth without jobs would benefit from the full implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) towards youth.
Irekamba said that over the years Nigerian youth have been denied their rights to enjoy benefits accruing from CSR especially by companies operating in the country.
As per his statement, UYAN intends to pursue and convince businesses operating within the nation to uphold their legal obligations regarding corporate social responsibility with greater vigor.
“If these companies set aside at least 3 per cent of their annual income to channel youth empowerment and development, it will drastically reduce the youth unemployment in Nigeria.
“These companies should endeavour to reach out to the Unemployed Youth Association of Nigeria.
“We are aware of some companies who are already committed to it, others doing partially, and there are some that are not doing it at all.
“MTN and other telecom players are doing their best through scholarships, empowerment schemes and youth empowerment at the grassroots,” he said.
Irekamba blamed youth unemployment on some government regulating agencies who have failed in the process of monitoring and evaluating how these companies operate, stating that some officials benefit from the scheme, hence their silence.
“The issue of corporate social responsibility is compulsory for all companies operating in the country by law, and our leaders are aware of this, however, they are silent.
“Most of these companies have failed in this area, year in, year out; they don’t carry out their corporate social responsibility and those at the helm of affairs are doing nothing about it,”Irekamba stated.
It is time for Nigerian youths, especially the jobless ones, to band together and demand their rights, stated the president of UYAN.
He noted that there was a need to declare a state of emergency on companies that have failed to carry out their corporate social responsibility over the years.
He, however, explained that UYAN was working tirelessly to create awareness on the youth to be patriotic, law-abiding and peaceful in their approach and activities.
“As part of the strategy, we are educating, creating awareness and public enlightenment programmes to sensitise the youth, more especially the unemployed through our structure in the 36 states in the country, and FCT.
“As unemployment remains high across the country and leading to migration to greener pastures popularly called “Japa”, it is highly imperative for the government to create wealth for youths through corporate social responsibility of companies,”he said.
Speaking on the current rate of unemployment and criminality among the youths, Irekamba said UYAN was out to ensure that the lives of the unemployed youth could be transformed and occupied positively to better the economy.
“UYAN will soon unveil initiatives that will help young people to achieve their career ambitions.
“This will be achieved by providing guidance, support, training and empowerment for them to have a competitive advantage to succeed in today’s work environment,”Irekamba said. (NAN)
