YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM YEP | Multivate Consulting
 

YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM YEP

The youth empowerment program for youths from Nigeria.

This will enable qualified youths to attend training in Europe on Renewable energy.

More about this project will unfold very soon.

Talks is ongoing with the german Government.12036756_10208175960894840_6082145373185555779_n

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Read about the proposal here:

Title: Youth Empowerment Program in Renewable Energy (RE).

Contact: Multivate Consulting Ventures.
Ojoye@multivate.de
Tel. +49 179 5349909.

Proposal Summary:
The purpose of this proposal is to empower Nigerian youths, in providing them with training, courses, apprenticeships as well as certificate programs in Renewable Energy (RE) in Europe.

This program is envisaged to make available trainings for approximately 25 to 50 youths. The targeted youths are technicians and university graduates with technical know-how and background knowledge in this field. The calculated costs are listed below:

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Abstract:
Nigeria as a country is rich in various naturally available resources. However despite the huge potential of renewable energy resources in Nigeria, the country is yet to really exploit these for full and effective advantages. The sobering truth is that the country is still largely dependent on fossil fuels and firewood in most rural areas. These sources of energy are premised on old ideas and not endlessly usable or exploitable. The country has recently realized the potentials in unending availability of solar, wind and biomass energy sources, which are largely untapped and available throughout the year.

In order for Nigeria to meet its Energy Mix Target for 2020 as proposed by the government, the country has to prepare its
youths for the Renewable Energy (RE) technology. Nigeria obviously lacks sufficient amount of prepared technicians with adequate knowledge and training in the promising field of renewable energy. The current energy crises in Nigeria is a critical factor in its economic challenges and high rate of unemployment.

According to the Independent Evaluation Group IEG 2013 paper (Youth Unemployment in Nigeria: Challenges and Way Forward), it was found that “Based on age group classification, the 15-24 age group has the highest unemployment rate of 37.7%, followed by the 25-44 age group with unemployment rate of 22.4%. These millions of poor and unemployed youths are made up of a mix of educated and poorly educated young people.”

As seen above youth unemployment must be urgently tackled in innovative ways.

Situation:

It cannot be overemphasized that there is enormous energy crisis in Nigeria.

The inability of the Nigerian government to provide adequate supply of electricity to the Nigerian populace is a big challenge. This affects the general public as well as the industrial sector. In the past years, many foreign investors have consequently relocated to other countries where they can operate their businesses in an enabling atmosphere and more convenient manner in terms of energy availability. Many local
businesses have also folded up due to the scenario of energy crisis in the country. Against this background, the effect of this industrial depression is that many Nigerian youths are unemployed.

It is believed by government that Nigeria needs at least 10,000 MW of electricity per year to boost the economy and consequently improve the unemployment rates of the youths. With about 170 million Nigerians and the current generation power at about 4,000 MW of electricity per year, this power availability is obviously rather
low for the most populous nation in Africa and in relation to this, it is a country with one of the lowest per capita power consumption in the world.

One of the reasons for the poor electricity supply in Nigeria is the lack of alternative avenues of energy, e.g. adequate
usage of abundant renewable energy resources including biomass, wind and solar energy in the country. The Nigerian
National Energy Policy (April 2003) recognized the use of renewable energy sources such as hydro, solar, wind and
biomass amongst other sources. Especially, the policy recognizes the need for Nigeria to integrate renewable energy platforms
(solar, in particular) into the country’s energy supply.

In view of this and the ongoing quest for solving the energy crisis in Nigeria through tapping into solar energy, it is quite
glaring that the country lacks enough professionals and technicians for generating and distributing this sort of energy option.

This proposal is aimed at finding practical solutions to this big gap of insufficient renewable energy professionals and technicians, and also at the same time, help to combat the high rate of unemployment in our youths.

Government should acknowledge that electricity is a major economic booster that can make a country self-sufficient in
job creation, economic productivity and growth. It is a potent means of encouraging young entrepreneurs to advance in
business and shun crime and corruption.

Proposed Solution:

1. Empower the youths and take them off the streets.

  • Training
  • Certification
  • Workshop and Seminars
  • Apprenticeship (This has to be looked properly into; discussion is going on with the German government. Apprentices in Germany collect salary ranging from 600-800€ or more in the first year. This may take between 1-3 years).

2. Encourage Solar Energy Entrepreneurship (Train the Trainers).
3. Bridge the information gap in the public about potentials of Solar Energy.
4. Involve the rural areas.
5. Extend Solar Energy to areas like agriculture, health and environment.
6. Involve international bodies and government for support.

• Empowering our youths can be done in various ways, but the ones envisaged in this paper involve giving them training in Renewable Energy (RE) systems and thereby increasing their employment capacities, giving them a focus and letting them discover their talents so as to facilitate their specialization in the mentioned areas above. A governmental body could be organized to register qualified candidates, this will be expatiated on further in detail.

• The Nigerian government now agrees that 80% of the youths are unemployed In Nigeria including university graduates. The aim of this paper is to target degree holders as well as the ones already in business who will like to be entrepreneurs as well. In order for the youths to acquire and develop
entrepreneurial skills, they need to be re-trained especially due to the poor quality of university education and the resulting caliber of graduates in the country as observed by the former Minister of Education, Mr. Sam Egwu (2009; situation worsens each day). Many of these graduates need to get extra training and certification in order to be worthy entrepreneurs able start Renewable Energy (RE) businesses.

• The general public in Nigeria need to be more informed about the gains of renewable energy, what it means for Nigerian economy, for the ecosystem, for our health and for the future of the country. Many are not well informed or educated about the idea of Renewable Energy and due to these lack of knowledge about RE, they might tend shun it, play it down or even go against it, if such is planned in their community.

• In most rural areas in the country, there is a general belief that such projects do not have a future, even where such projects have been implemented before, due to lack of adequate planning and improper running of such projects. There should be efficient planning and sufficient availability of well-trained technicians with suitable knowledge in RE in implementing such projects.

• The Government should use its resources to extend RE to the area of agriculture and healthcare. For instance, it can be used in large farmlands for irrigation and preservation as well as support for surveillance of large farmlands.

• Due to the extensibility of such projects and the importance for the economy and the wellbeing of the people, it is important for the efficient running of RE projects that there is sufficient funds available; to this end, international bodies should be brought into such projects for support and to provide funds and expertise.

Steps Involved:
The steps proposed in empowering the youths and giving them employment can be summarized as follows below.

The focus on training Nigerian youths to be qualified technicians and experts in RE can be classified into two, the government-sponsored category and the ones sponsored by the industry and the individuals themselves.

• Government- Sponsored:
Candidates eligible for the RE training will be screened at their corresponding Local Governments where application forms will be made available to them.

The local government should be in the position to determine who is eligible, with the criteria and questionnaire, corresponding to the type of training to undergo.
Candidate must have undergone a technical course of study at a technical school, polytechnic or a course at a university.
The government should generally provide incentives for youths who want to pursue a vocational technical course in RE and the likes.

• Company/Self-Sponsored:
The candidates with this type of sponsorship will have to provide the above mentioned
criteria in terms of eligibility in addition to fund availability to sponsor themselves or be sponsored by their companies.

• Foreign Investors and NGO’s:
The attention of foreign investors and NGO’s should be sought, for example the European Union. A multi-million Euro package of financial aid to help develop Nigeria’s renewable energy infrastructure has been
announced by the European Commission, in partnership with the World Bank and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

According to the European Commission, the EU is the biggest donor to energy-related projects worldwide and has invested more than €2 billion over the last five years on energy schemes in developing countries and more than €1bn on improving the state of the energy sector in Africa.

• Organizations like the UNDP, should be contacted for support and financing.
• Public organizations, NGO’s, Universities etc., in Nigeria should also be contacted for help.

A concrete offer of a training seminar for RE has been discussed and agreed with the following ASG Solar Technologies in
Cyprus:

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Benefits:

• The benefits of renewable energy in general is immense and it plays a very big role in the economy, social activities, the environment and the wellbeing of the people.
• It encourages social and economic development for the youths.
• Decrease in unemployment among youths
• Increase in youth entrepreneurial potential thereby indirectly reducing crime inclinations.
• Decrease in the influx of Nigerian refugees in Europe and abroad.
• Increase in the availability of trained teachers in these areas.
• This will also help in the 2020 energy goals of the country.
• Migration of youths from the rural areas to the cities might also be curbed if this program is extended to reach the youths in the rural areas too.
• Entrepreneurship and managerial skills development training programmes and technical courses in RE technologies with a view to developing Energy Service Companies for providing services to rural areas need to be introduced. The existing Research and Development centers and technology development institutions should be adequately strengthened to support the shift towards increased renewable energy utilization.

Potential Obstacles:
• Despite the recognition that RE are important sources of energy in Nigeria, there has not been any serious investment or governmental policy on this. Implementation to support RE are still not being felt, as more than 40% of Nigerian have no electricity. The success of RE technologies has been limited
by a combination of factors which include:
• Lack of co-ordination and linkage in RE programmes;
• Higher pricing has placed renewable energy at a great disadvantage;
• High initial capital costs of insulation; weak technology dissemination strategies.
• Poor baseline information on location and weak maintenance service and infrastructure.
• Inadequate flow of information, especially in the rural areas.
• Lack of government incentives to support RE.
• Lack of policy integration and serious and effective implementation thereof.
• Lack of skilled manpower and inadequate knowledge about RE by the implementing technicians and sometimes by the teachers or trainers themselves.
• Poor learning equipment in the tertiary institution, or even total absence of pertinent departments even in Technical Universities.
• Last but not the least is the lack of fund by candidates interested in pursuing a course or training in RE.

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