The Minister of Youth Development, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, has clarified media report quoting him as saying that 67million Nigerian youths are unemployed in the country.

A statement signed by his media aide, Julius Ogunro, noted that the minister was misrepresented and never mentioned what was credited to him at the Career Day Programme organized by TY Danjuma Foundation in Benin, that 67 million youths were jobless.

"To put the records straight, the minister did not at any time say that 67 million Nigerians youth are jobless. Rather he said the total population of Nigerian youth is 67 million, explaining that the estimated unemployment ratio among the youth is 46 percent, and that 80 percent of unemployed youth are those with school certificates or less.

"A simple calculation of unemployment ratio based on the figures given by the minister will reveal youth unemployment of about 30 million. The Minister believes this is too high and revealed several plans by his Ministry to tackle it.

This includes collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Investment to make registration of companies by young people easy and stress-free. He also disclosed that he is into talks with the Ministry of Finance on plans to give incentives such as tax rebates to companies that employ first time workers, who are mainly young people," he said.