The Federal government has pledged to support the building of synergies with youths and other young people across the world to promote decent work for all.

The Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, William Alo disclosed this at the closing ceremony of the 3 days Global Youth Employment Forum (GYEF), in Abuja, over the weekend.

“The 3 day lively discussions and thought provoking sessions anchored by the best world resource persons, governments and social partners from all over the world coming together to share their experiences here in Nigeria, knowledge and expertise as well as challenges will no doubt galvanise creativity, synergies and resourcefulness of the youths towards tapping into these new employment opportunities by government to create a better tomorrow for themselves” the Permanent Secretary added.

He said “as a responsible government and a member of the Global Youth Initiative, we will strategically use the outcome of the Forum to create a data base of international best practices that are proven in promoting decent work for young people around the world, in order to strengthen our initiatives in youth employment schemes”.

Alo told the participants that Nigeria is the most populous black nation in the world and the fastest growing economy in Africa and invited the youths to invest in Nigeria and also encouraged them to visit the country on tourism.

The Country Director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Dennis Zulu, in his closing remarks expressed the satisfaction of the ILO with the successful hosting of the GYEF by Nigeria.

Zulu said he was impressed with the active participation of the youths in all the sessions which contributed to the recommendations that have been put together to produce the blueprint which clearly outlined the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly the SDG 8.

He observed that many policies and legislations that exist in many countries including Nigeria are not truly supported by the necessary funding resources to implement this.

Zulu then called on governments to ensure that the budgets that are provided by the development partners and the technical support are used to ensure that our policies, programmes and activities are implemented towards meeting the goals which relates to SDG 8.

He further advised that as we proceed to deal with the problem of youth unemployment, we must ensure that we do not leave anyone behind. He said there is need for all stakeholders to work together to get the job done and ensure that the future for the youth is the one they desire for themselves.