The Chairman of Kaduna Electricity Distribution PLC, Alhaji Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar has advocated a paradigm shift and the need for all stakeholders to focus serious attention on developing the nation’s technological sector as a way of adding value to locally produced products and addressing the growing unemployment challenges among youth.
He made the charge yesterday in Kaduna while speaking at a roundtable discussion titled “How innovation drives entrepreneurship: the case for SME’s and Start-ups”, organized by Verdant Zeal in conjunction with Kaduna State Government.
Alhaji Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar who doubled as the Chairman of the occasion also charged universities and other research institutions in the country to channel their energy and research programmes towards meeting the nation’s industrial needs and adding value to indigenous products so as to make them more competitive in the global market. “We must think for the future while addressing the current challenges,” he asserted.
The Electricity boss also charged youth to do away with the age long notion of “seeking life long jobs” and start seeking what he referred as to as “life long learning opportunities” provided by technology.
According to him, “technology has changed the fate of many industries; changed local and global competition; has forced people to change jobs and market places as well as provided many threats and opportunities to business and our youth must learn to be accountable to themselves and stop waiting for government or corporations to provide them with jobs”.
He warned that “if the growing young population of the country is not carefully handled, it will turn out to be a disaster for the country”..