A non-profit organization, Prince’s Trust International (PTI), founded by King Charles III of England, has been launched in Lagos State, Nigeria to address the urgent issue of youth unemployment emergency. The launch was graced by high-profile functionaries, including the Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ben Llewellyn-Jones. Llewellyn-Jones during the event stated that PTI’s is programmed to bridge existing skills gap through training of the youths to be more proficient in skill.
Llewellyn-Jones said, “This is the launch of the Prince’s Trust International initiative in Nigeria to help train young people and get them ready for work to bridge the gap that we have with respect to youth unemployment and youth underemployment here in Nigeria.
“So, it is a really positive initiative. His Royal Highness is the President of the Prince’s Trust. The initiative is trying to reach more countries, Nigeria being the latest. The PTI is a charity. It is in line with the UK government’s ambition in Nigeria to help young people get jobs; get the proper training and the proper skills.
“It is about training. It depends on the kinds of roles young people want to take up. It is about providing them with modern workplace skills, modern workplace etiquette and the ways in which they can approach things, helping them with some of the softer skills and some of the harder skills as well.”
The PTI Chief Executive Officer, Will Straw, added that the initiative was scheduled to commence in the aftermath of King Charles’ visit to Nigeria in 2018 but was delayed due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Straw said, “Prince’s Trust is nearly half a century old. It was founded by King Charles when he was the Prince of Wales in the UK in 1976. It has grown to be the largest charity in the UK, supporting a million people. In 2015, the King founded Prince’s Trust International with a mission to work with local partners around the world to tackle the youth unemployment crisis”.
“In 2018, he visited Nigeria, and as we heard this evening, he asked government officials, he asked business leaders whether his trust could support employment efforts here in Nigeria and in Ghana. The answer was yes. The expertise that we have could help with local efforts. So, we began with the support of our Africa advisory board, which includes great business figures in Nigeria like Atedo Peterside and Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede to explore how we can set this program up.”
On her part, PTI’s trustee and former Vice President of the World Bank, Arunma Oteh, said that 60 per cent of Nigeria’s population is youth; hence, any investment in young people was worthwhile and sustainable for development.
Oteh, who was also a former Director-General of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission, expressed excitement at the possibility the program portends for young Nigerians, employers and the country. According to her, Nigerian youths are hardworking, creative, and resilient.
