By Namutebi Sumayiya
The State House Investors Protection Unit (SHIPU) Head, Col. Edith Nakalema and has today held a fruitful meeting with top academicians in the country.
The meeting held at the SHIPU offices in Kampala, was aimed at brainstorming on how to address the unemployment and wealth creation challenges among the youths in Uganda.
Col. Nakalema informed the academicians that Uganda’s population is majorly made of young people and as stakeholders, they should do what it takes to address the concerns that affect them if a country is to achieve the much-desired socio-economic transformation.
“The young people from 0 to 35 years are 82 percent. Actually, this means the majority of Ugandans are young,” she said.
She said the government has over the years been coming up with several interventions such as Youth Livelihood Fund, Presidential skilling in order to create jobs and wealth among the youths.
Col. Nakalema however noted that despite these efforts, the challenges still persist and in the end they lead to disgruntlement.
She therefore advocated for a holistic approach to deal with the challenges to enable the youth to progressively contribute to national development.
“To ensure the success of interventions crafted to solve the challenges faced by the youth, it is critical that targeted and focused solutions are developed to address their unique challenges.”
Col. Nakalema also commended Makerere University’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe for eliminating strikes at the institution.
“It has been over 5 years now without seeing Makerere University students striking,” she said.
On his part, Prof. Nawangwe advised the government to keep the graduates off the street by coming up with several initiatives like the national service that keep them productive.
“Make much use of these graduates by engaging them properly. With our big population, the group that must be dealt with first are the graduates because they have got organisational power and expectations,” he said.
Prof. Nawangwe further urged that Uganda’s large unemployed graduate population can be a source of instability if not addressed properly but it can also be a trigger to enhanced socio-economic development if properly managed through targeted schemes.
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