The Minister of State for Youth Development, Mr. Ayodele Olawande has vowed to help in providing support for the advancement of Ilaje Fish Market in Ondo State capital, Akure.
Mr. Olawande made the promise on Saturday when he visited the fish market to see the commercial activities therein.
“In line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on youth empowerment and job creation, I paid a working visit to one of the biggest fish markets in Nigeria situated in Akure, Ondo State to witness the level of economic activities going on in the market.
“I’m proud this is happening in Ondo. I believe, firmly, that we cannot address unemployment by simply driving interventions in the urban centers alone, which in most cases benefit only the educated formal youth. We must do our utmost to carry the informal youth in our local communities along by factoring them into all our job creation plans,” he stated on X, formerly Twitter.
The minister noted that almost all the Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Nigeria have one outstanding product or economic mainstay.
“We must, therefore, work to harness the peculiar and comparative economic activity in each local government area to create jobs, which is the thinking behind the ‘1 LGA, 1 Product’ initiative,” Minister Olawande said.
He assured the management of the market of his commitment to facilitating the required support and collaborations that would improve the productive capacity of the Ilaje Fish market.
This, he said will enable the market to fully take advantage of the surging protein demand in Nigeria and across Africa.
