OSSAP –SDGS DEPLOYS TAP PROJECT TO NIGERIAN YOUTH TO COMPLEMENT BUHARI’S ADMINISRATION TO UPLIFT ONE HUNDRED MILLION NIGERIAN FROM POVERTY THROUGH DECENT JOB CREATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH.

  By Agbor Cynthia

In a bid to consolidate president Buhari’s ambition to uplift one hundred million Nigerians from poverty. The Office of the Senior Special Assistant to The President on Sustainable Development Goals had partner with the UNESCO Read and Earn Federation in conjunction with the United Kingdom Association of Business Executives, Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council and the University of Canada West to train Nigerian youth through the TAP Project, exposing them to ideology and tactics involved in international business trade and enterprise.

According to Princess Adejoke Orelope -Adefulire the SSAP-SDGs, said the training modules were developed to build the Intellectual, Leadership and Economy capacities of the participants. She further explained that the project was targeted at creating a generation of more knowledgeable and active entrepreneurs that can sustain the current administration’s Economic, Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), to be able to develop a broader-based economy needed to provide employment, competition, innovation as well as insulation from the global price and demand shocks in its natural resource markets. Without a doubt she said, this country’s youth population boasts some of the most original creative’s in the world. Given the right tools and environment, Nigerian youths can compete at the highest levels in various industries and exceed expectations. TAP Project will accelerate the provision of such improved competencies and capabilities. It is our hope that this very timely project will enlighten Nigerian youths about the dynamics of international markets, exposing them to globally recognized and proven wealth creation strategies, and doubtlessly, satisfying the ambition of president Buhari’s administration to making Nigeria an economic powerhouse.

She further stress that Nigeria needs all her young people, and she needs them wise in the business ways of the world. No one is coming to save us. We owe ourselves our salvation. We owe ourselves our rescue. As this latest project demonstrate, entrepreneurs should be excited about Nigeria’s future by helping the country to take its place in the global economy and make a difference to its people.

Also speaking is one of the beneficiaries of TAP Project sponsored by OSSAP-SDGs Mr. Ogbodo Kenneth Uchenna, a serving NYSC Corps member in the FCT, Abuja and the Governor General NYSC SDGs CDS group said The cutting edge knowledge/experience acquired from the TAP Economic Capacity Building Modules helped him to reposition his business, pitch his ideas to investors, hire two more youths and increase his profit by 80%.  According to Mr. Ogbodo, Most importantly he said TAP gave him a professional certification and admitted him into United Kingdom Association of Business Executives (ABE) and The Institute of Leadership and Management (TILM). Furthermore; gave him the scholarship opportunity to further his education (Masters) in Canada. And concluded by saying TAP is developing young people like him not just aid economic and political development of Nigeria but also for global success.  I’m proudly a TAPian.

 Meanwhile, Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu, Global Director, Tap Project lamented that the steady out-flow of most promising young Nigerian talents to Europe for economic gains, leaves behind a damaging human capital problem and needs  urgent attention. Noting that policymakers worldwide are focusing on start-ups as an engine of long-lasting economic growth. TAP Project will contribute towards establishing us firmly in that march towards economic independence. We are aware of the potential impact of this Project, and are optimally hopeful of producing a flood of empowered young people, with a deliberate focus on popular inclusivity for women. We aim to relaunch the authority of originality in enterprise, and to encourage the intersection of fresh ideas, “the sex of ideas” as Matt Ridley puts it in his book, The Rational Optimist. He said. While calling on relevant stakeholders to collaborate with TAP Project to facilitate entrepreneurship in the country, the TAP Global Director, said the project is to train about 1.2 million Nigerian youths for the next 10 years and explained that TAP was aimed at achieving the United Nations mandate on SDGs 4 (Quality Education), 8 and 9 (Decent work and economic growth).