PR TIMES AFRICA PRTimesAfrica (March 2016) | Page 65

among Africa’s youth population and will feature 57 exem-
plary Nigerians selected from a wide range of industries
across Nigeria. These Nigerians will serve as narrators on
the project, giving life to the scripts under the supervision
of a Voice Coach and a Creative Director. The project will be
replicated in key African countries using local influencers in
the region and managed by Graduatepro’s Country Leads.
This audacious project has the likes of AuduMaikori, OC
Ukeje, SegunLawal, YemiAmusan, Dare Art Alade, ChiomaO-
meruah (Chigurl), Ayo Makun (AY), ChineduIkedieze, Jane
Maduegbuna, LanreOlusola, Michelle Aisha Bello, Kola Oy-
eneyin, NimiAkinkugbe, Japheth Omojuwa, Andre Blaze
Henshaw, Moses Siasia, Lydia IdakulaSobogun, OjomaOc-
hai, Femi Longe, Dike Chukwumerije, MisanRewane, Aisha
Augie-kuta, Jimi Tewe, NuhuKwajafa, Femi Obong Daniels,
Sage Hasson, Jodie Odiete, Amanda Kirby Okoye, DayoIs-
real, AlkasimAbdulkadir and WanaUdobang amongst others
on the project as narrators.
Addressing guests, young graduates and the media at the
unveil held in Lagos, Nigeria, July 21, 2015 at Protea Hotel
Lagos, Ms. Naomi Lucas, the project visionary and Creative
Director of the initiative said, “We must adopt a Pan-Afri-
can approach to solving unemployment. We must show our
young people that they can stay here and find meaningful
work.” She further stated that contrary to popular opinion,
there are jobs; the problem remains a wide gap between
available jobs and the skills needed to execute them and
that the gap stunts business growth which would have cre-
ated even more jobs.
Using these amazing narrators was deliberate for Ms Nao-
mi Lucas. To drive the need grasp young people’s attention,
because she believe
“We didn’t start out for it to be Africa’s biggest book project;
it was something that we stumbled upon. Essentially when
I finished the book, I was looking at publishing it tradition-
ally, but I was a bit concerned because I know the kind of
people I am trying to reach – young people do not read. So, I
kept thinking of ways to present the content that will ensure
they consume. Then I realized there is a very strong music
cultures with Nigeria and Africa: young people are passion-
ate about music. So, if they already had earpieces and ear-
phones jammed in, I might as well plug into the culture. And
that’s how the idea for the audio book came in”
Speaking at the unveil event also was Mr. Audu Maikori,
Founder - Chocolate City Group, who shared his recent expe-
rience working on the SURE-P Graduate Internship Scheme
and said, “Internships and apprenticeships are part of the
tools for capacity building that young people must adopt.”
Chief Executive Officer - Lucere Ltd, Dr. Yemi Amusan, un-
derscored youth empowerment and entrepreneurial funding
as keys to solving the unemployment problem in Africa.
The book has been successfully narrated at different stag-
es by Innovators, entertainers, professionals, entrepreneurs,
politicians, religious figures, and government officials se-
lected from across various industries within Nigeria. These
people gave life to the chapters under the supervision of a
Voice and Creative Director with a documentary team on
ground to capture the entire process. Recordings took place
in two key locations (Lagos and Abuja). The book will be sold
as CDs and MP3 downloads via our network partners.
Naomi decided to put this audacious book into an audio
format just to prepare for future high demands. She under-
stands that piracy exists in a void, and so if she can’t meet
demand they’ll step up and help her meet it— “Of course
nobody is going to give you a dime. So you’ll find that you
have written this work and have taken so much time to see it
through to the publishing phase, and somebody else is reap-
ing the benefits.”
“It’s very critical for me to be able to make money from the
project because; the audio book is not an end in itself. It is
a funding strategy for a big goal we have for Graduate Pro,
which is, to implement work-readiness boot camps across
Africa--residential boot camps. I want to be able to bring
young people together and re-calibrate the minds of these
youngsters.”
“I’ve been approached by a lot of VAS Service Providers who
want to sell the book, and I think that’s really interesting be-
cause normally VAS providers want to be sure that there is
demand before they come on board, but I think they can see
potential. So they’ve come to me to say we want to sell your
book. We’re still working to finalize that deal. The issue of
piracy, we have it in mind, for the platforms where the con-
tent is going to be available, you will not be able to share.
You will only be able to download via an app, or a site, we
will use digital rights management to make sure that you do
not share. It is important that each person buys a copy for
themselves so we can fund our boot camp.”
Final note
Education curriculum must be immediately revised to incor-
porate skills and enterprise development. A special program
should be designed for youth in vocational centers. Incen-
tives should be provided to SMEs that promote student in-
ternships. The current state of youth unemployment in Ni-
geria and the rest of Africa require shared responsibilities to
tackle it. It will take the ‘Power of We’ to solve it. Businesses
will thrive in a safe and secure society. Government can im-
plement developmental programs only in an atmosphere of
peace of security. It is therefore incumbent on government
to work closely with the private sector to promote intern-
ships, graduate trainee programs, and community-based
projects that create jobs for young people.
65 | PRTIMES AFRICA MARCH 2016