APC Chieftain Urges Tinubu to Tackle Nigeria’s ‘Triple Job Crisis’ with Practical Solutions 

.Proposes $1bn youth innovation fund for startups, $2bn diaspora jobs bond

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia


President Bola Tinubu and the Federal Executive Council have been urged to collectively take advantage of the national awakening generated by the Renewed Hope Agenda to find practical and sustainable solutions to Nigeria’s “triple job crisis”.

An international policy analyst and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Pharm Ikeagwuonwu Chinedu Klinsmann, made the call in a national strategic blueprint he unveiled Monday, made available to the media in Umuahia.

He said that in order “to translate hope into prosperity”, those piloting the affairs of the nation “must act swiftly and systemically” by declaring a state of emergency on youth unemployment, to avoid losing an entire generation to poverty.

In the advisory paper which contains a blueprint on immediate and long-term solutions to tackle unemployment, Klinsmann pointed the way forward, saying that efforts must be made to stimulate entrepreneurship, and reposition Nigeria’s youth as drivers of the economy.

To tackle unemployment headlong, the APC chieftain stated that Nigeria needed to organise a Presidential Youth Jobs Summit, set up a National Youth Enterprise Trust Fund, Presidential Jobs Task Force, and strengthen partnerships with global donors.

“Nigeria is sitting atop a demographic goldmine that can either be our greatest advantage or our biggest risk,” he said.

According to him, the nation was already “at a crossroads (because of) a demographic explosion, a skills mismatch, and a shrinking opportunity landscape” hence “bold, coordinated action is urgently needed”.

He buttressed his position with worrisome statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics and the World Bank, indicating that in Nigeria, over five million fresh job seekers enter the labour market annually. To worsen the situation 87 per cent of graduates are said to lack employable skills and only 17 per cent of start-ups manage to survive beyond five years.

Klinsmann, who is the CEO of Askdeep.ai, a Swedish-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) creativity startup, stated that Nigeria’s burgeoning unemployment situation should not be treated with levity.

“It’s not just an economic crisis, it’s the foundation of insecurity, mass migration, social unrest, and long-term economic stagnation,” he said.

As a way out of the woods, the policy analyst from Dunukofia Local Government, Anambra  State, outlined a five-point emergency intervention tagged ‘President Tinubu Jobs Accord’ in which he proposed adoption of solutions that proved effective in other nations.

He listed a Skills Nigeria Initiative modelled after Germany’s dual vocational education system, a $1 billion youth innovation fund to boost startups; a mechanised agriculture revolution modelled after Brazil and China.

Klinsmann also included a digital job expansion strategy inspired by the Philippines and Estonia, and a National Infrastructure Corps to employ millions of youths in road, rail, and housing projects.

In addition, he proposed adoption of creative financing mechanisms such as a $2 billion diaspora jobs bond, dedicating of 30 per cent of oil subsidy savings to job creation, the establishment of a corporate jobs tax credit. He said that a monthly presidential jobs performance report would be put in place to ensure transparency and public accountability.

The party chieftain said that Nigeria should learn from countries such as Germany, China, Bangladesh, South Africa, Benin Republic, and Egypt, that had fought and won  unemployment with different models that could equally work for Nigeria if well implemented.

To this end, he called for revival of labour-intensive manufacturing, overhauling technical and vocational education, establishing digital and creative job hubs, providing targeted youth business grants and mentorship, and expanding access to microfinance and SME loans.

While stressing the need to infuse  entrepreneurship into school curricula, Klinsmann emphasised the importance of bringing behavioural training, job portals, and public-private partnerships into the mix.

He insisted that his solutions “aren’t theoretical proposals”, adding that “every single recommendation is backed by verifiable global success stories”.

“We just need to act as the future of Nigeria rests on how we respond to the cries of our youths today,” he said.