CHALLENGE OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT; HOW CREATIVE INDUSTRY CAN PROVIDE QUICK SOLUTION THROUGH JOB CREATION BY THE SEN. PRINCE BASSEY EDET OTU LED ADMINISTRATION IN CROSS RIVER STATE
Nigeria has the second highest number of unemployed youths in the world, a global youth unemployment index has shown. The figure stands at about 53 percent in 2023. As it stands this is not just a time bomb for the nation but also for the constituent States. Vices, crime and unproductivity are all associated with high rate of youth unemployment.
Cross River State is the state with the third highest unemployment rate in Nigeria with 53.65 percent unemployment according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The time has come to act and create jobs for the teeming youth demographic if the state and nation must avoid the catastrophic outcome that is to follow this high rates of youth unemployment.
The Creative Industry provides immediate solution to this growing unemployment challenge. According to reports, the Industry is the second highest employer of labour in Nigeria with potential of employing more if supported to grow. Nigeria's creative sector, as categorized by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), is comprised of five sub-sectors: Media and Entertainment, Beauty and Lifestyle, Visual Arts, as well as Tourism and Hospitality. The creative sector currently employs about 4.2 million people across the five sub-sectors.
It is important for the Cross River State Government to give special attention to the Creative Industry in the state as a key strategy to create jobs for its youthful population and not only halt but reverse the fast growing unemployment.
Lagos State for instance unveiled the Creative Industry Initiative, an initiative aimed at addressing the identified skills gap in the creative industry, particularly in the area of Script Writing, Directing, Cinematography, Film Making, Fashion and Style, among others,
Nollywood, the world’s second-largest film industry, employed close to 300,000 persons in 2021, the highest in five years, according to BusinessDay estimates. In Cross River State the birth of Callywood has great potentials and must be encouraged to grow.
The Nigerian music industry is the second largest in Africa and employs hundreds of thousands of young people across the country. In Cross River State, the Misic Industry is growing and showing great potential for further growth.
The Fashion and textile industry is next to agriculture and oil in Nigeria in terms of employment and job creation among the teeming youthful population. The sector is still growing in Cross River State and can be repositioned to create more jobs.
The Prince Bassey Edet Otu Administration if it must solve the unemployment challenge before it, should as a matter of urgency revive the Nollywood Studio in Tinapa and equip it for increased film production in Cross River State. The film studio can also be expanded to accommodate a world class Music Studio all run through a public private partnership.
The Cross River State Garment Factory must be repositioned to further grow the fashion and textiles sector in the state. This can be achieved through a backward integration of the value chain by setting up of a Cross River State Textile Factory and the primary production of cotton through commercial farming of the product in the state. The potential of this to create jobs and contribute to the growth of the state economy is better experienced than imagined.
Further, to bridge the Access to Finance gap in the Creative Indusrry Sector, the Cross River State Government should set up the Creative Industty Development Fund (CIDF) as a single digit interest loan scheme in the Cross River State Microfance Bank.
Lagos State has also set the pace by setting up the Creative Industry Intervention Fund. The Lagos State Governor in 2022 presented cheques of interest free loans to 39 film makers under the Lagos State Creative Initiative (LACI),
In conclusion, the Cross River State Creative Economy Development Group will be supporting the Cross River State Creative Economy Development Bill in the Cross River State House of Assembly for the purpose of giving legislative framework for the development of the Creative Industry in the state according to the Chairman of the group Mr. Fidelis Duker.
The Creative Economy Development Act is expected to among others formulate and implement a State Creative Economy Development Plan and Support the training of a creative workforce in the state in order to expand employment opportunities.
Let's put our hands together for the contribute to the development of the creative industry sector, create jobs for our youths to reduce unemployment and grow the state economy.
Emmanuel Etim, Secretary of the Cross River State Creative Economy Development Group writes from Calabar