Minister tips youth on hard work

Youth have been urged to work hard to improve their livelihood and contribute to the country’s economic growth.The call was made on Sunday by Jean-Philbert Nsengimana, the Minister for Youth and ICT, while addressing over 400 youth at Rwanda Young Generation Forum (RYGF) in Kigali.“Research shows that 67 per cent of Rwandan youth work less than the standard 40 hours per week, which is a challenge to productivity and economic growth,” Nsengimana said.Using the triple “P” principle, he advised the youth to embrace the virtues of purpose, passion and perseverance.“Most of you have excellent ideas. What you need are implementation skills,” Nsengimana said.He called upon the youth to champion the fight against poor service delivery, saying it is their obligation as citizens.“Youth occupy almost every sector in this country. We can take advantage of this and eliminate poor service delivery,” he said.Nsengimana urged the youth to be job creators and not seekers, saying there are many untapped opportunities in the country.“I do not know why most people see obstacles only. Having start-up capital without ability to recognise opportunity is useless,” Nsengimana said.He challenged the youth to have proper attitude and discipline, which he said are crucial in self-employment.“Money flows where good ideas are,” Nsengimana observed.Francois Kanimba , the Minister for Trade and Industry, urged the youth to be innovative, instead of sitting on the fence to wait for government handouts.Kanimba also appealed to the private sector to come up with an apprenticeship programme so as to equip students and fresh graduates with relevant skills and experience.He said a number of government initiatives like “Hanga Umurimo” are in place to help tackle unemployment but some youth do not take them seriously.Doreen Mabethiene, a member of RYGF, appealed to the government and private sector to equip the youth with entrepreneurial skills.Mabethiene said 85 per cent of youth would love to start a business, but 80 per cent of businesses fail due to lack of entrepreneurial skills.Jacques Kagabo, the RYGF chairperson, said their mission is to help young people create, grow and sustain jobs.He said it is crucial for youth themselves to be at the forefront of the fight against unemployment.According to a recent survey conducted by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR), 0.8 per cent of the youth are unemployed while 64 per cent are underemployed. The youth make up 39 per cent of Rwanda’s 10.5 million people.