- Former national vice president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Issa Aremu, has described the mass exodus (Japa syndrome) of Nigerian youth abroad for greener pastures as ‘voluntary slavery.’
Aremu, who is the Director General of Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) likened the syndrome to the slave trader era where “our forefathers were used for hard labour to develop Europe and the Americas.”
The former labour activist said this in Ilorin, Kwara state at this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) organised by Lifefount Foundation and its partners.
He said: “Japa is voluntary slavery. It is uncalled for. I thank the foundation and its partners for changing the narrative of Africa from voluntary slavery to voluntary prosperity. I want to say that MINILS is available for future partnership with the foundation.”
Meanwhile, no fewer than 200 youths, women and persons living with disability (PLWD) have been trained by the consortium of organizations concerned with youth and women’s development on digital entrepreneurship skills and graduated at the event.
The training is aimed at encouraging self-employment, creating job opportunities and reducing poverty.
Themed, “Entrepreneur Thrives Here”, the programme also witnessed an exhibition of various entrepreneurial skills, a business conference and the graduation ceremony of the beneficiaries.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director and Co-Founder of the Foundation, Dr (Mrs) Yemisi Adeyeye, said the beneficiaries of the programme were trained on digital technology and entrepreneurship skills; both online and physical.
Adeyeye, who said that the organization trained about 100 participants in partnership with a US agency during last year’s edition of the programme held in Oyo state, added that over 200 beneficiaries of this year’s edition were trained on web development, machines, web designing, fashion, digital marketing, products designing, graphic designing.
Previous activities of the foundation included the provision of free breast mammography, free breast cancer tests, scanning among over 1,000 women, provision of boreholes, etc.
She said that the drive for the project came from the need to find out what could be done to make people’s lives better, “Especially, with the present economic challenges, we think there’s a need to empower women with digital empowerment skills and make them have structured business to improve and grow their businesses.
“GEW week is dedicated to celebrating entrepreneurship as well as people doing entrepreneurship all over the world. Lifefount Foundation has hosted the programme in Kwara state since 2018.
“This year’s edition is dedicated to beneficiaries in Kwara state. The training, which was held for three months, had every participant being trained on digital entrepreneurial skills aimed to make them be on their own and be self-employed. With the required technology, beneficiaries can work in remote areas, make progress, benefit communities and make more money.
