THAT unemployment is high in the country is saying the reality. Today, many people, especially the youth and women, are either unemployed or underemployed.
This is, therefore, one area the museum can come in by helping to reduce the high employment rate in the country.
The museum specialises in training people, youths and women in particular, in tye and dye, craft, among other skills and this has gone a long way in boosting the income of these categories of people.
Sometime ago, the National Museum, Osogbo, organised tye and dye trainings to women and the huge turnout showed that people really want to get trained in the area of skills acquisition in order to boost their earnings.
I want to say that the trainings, organised years ago, made one or two participants employers of labour.
Today, two women among those who attended that training, were able to set up their businesses and they also generate foreign exchange by exporting the materials to other parts of the world.
With these success stories, it can now be concluded that the museum has a lot to do in the area of helping to reduce unemployment in the country.
Apart from women and youths, other groups like widows, out-of-school teens, polytechnic and university students can also be taught how to make tye and dye, fashion designing, among other crafts, which will help boost their income.
It must be stated that the future belongs to those who have skills alongside their formal education and the museum must be at the forefront of impacting the skills to the teeming population in the country.
- Sajo is Principal Assistant Antiquities Protection Officer, National Museum of Unity, Ibadan.
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