By Fatima Saka
As the youths clamors for greener pastures abroad, the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria has said to leverage on Japa syndrome through Human capital Development Funds in restraining the young forks from leaving the country.
Human Capital Development Fund, is an initiative of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, working with the bankers and community body of banks, basically to set up a fund, a dedicated fund, to train, build capacity.
Speaking to the journalists Thursday on the development of the initiative immediately after paying a courtesy visit to the Chairman Senate Committee on Banking, and committee members, the President/Chairman of Council, CIBN, Dr. Ken Opara, reiterated that workforce is an idea that is basically to give a sense of belonging and career opportunities that are available in the Nigerian financial landscape.
He added that so many people have left the country, searching for jobs outside the country. “Some have gone to Europe, some have gone to Canada, some have gone to the US.”
Speaking about the initiative work, Dr. Opara said the idea is not to stop them from getting to leave, but to show that there are incentives and that people who are already existing in the industry, would have the kind of capacity that is also available in any part of the world.
“And once you know that you have the capacity and you can also provide those services here in Nigeria that are obtainable globally, you have the opportunity and the incentive to do that.
“Now, what this also means is that, clearly for those ones that have acquired the necessary scale and incentive, they become globally competitive.
Speaking of problems immigrants will encounter in various countries, the chairman/ president of CIBN reiterated that there are a lot of problems which the people that have left this country, they don’t even know, but by the time they get to those places, they begin to see that those are real problems that they didn’t even see.
“But with this Human Capital Development Fund, it gives them the opportunity to acquire skill, to acquire training, and be relevant to all aspects of the financial industry.
“And this will help them to retain them, to incentivize them, and to motivate them to stay in the country as much as possible.
“And it also tells us that the existing workforce, those that have left the country, they don’t even know not traveled will be ready made and they will be available, retooled, properly trained and also ready to confront the challenges that are available in the banking industry. I must state that this initiative has also have the blessing of the entire banking community and so that fund set up and also because of the fact that we discovered that the younger ones are the ones that have move
in groups so as soon as people finish from youth service they don’t necessarily need to be walking around looking for jobs that they don’t get.
“The moment they finish from that job to see them becoming available for the financial industry to go after them. And that gives them an opportunity to stay because they now know that they have what it takes to give to the industry.
“The industry on their own knows quite well that they have the people, they are also recruiting and have the value to provide. So it’s a win-win thing.,”
