The State House Investors Protection Unit (SHIPU) Head, Col. Edith Nakalema has urged academicians to address the concerns that affect the youth if a country is to achieve the much-desired socio-economic transformation.
She made the plea during a meeting held at the SHIPU offices in Kampala aimed at brainstorming on how to address the unemployment and wealth creation challenges among the youths in Uganda.
“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.”
She 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.
“All the riots I have seen across the country, the source is the graduates. Every time people riot, they take an institution back several years.”
Dr. Ben Mbonye, a healthcare practitioner and consultant noted that youth unemployment especially among the graduates is a security threat that could land a country into trouble.
He further explained that the society has a lot of challenges which need skills to be solved. However, he disclosed that Uganda’s training system (skills) does not address the demands of the society.
“We must do a market survey to know what our society wants. Then we align it to the training that we are going to offer so that we don’t end up with rotting materials,” Dr. Mbonye said.
Prof. Gerald Karyeija, a Senior lecturer at Uganda Management Institute (UMI) and Policy Analyst called for a review of the National Youth Policy and Strategy so that it aligns with the current needs among the young generation.
“We need a whole rethink of the policy to match the new trends.”