Nigeria: Using Call Centres to Bridge Poverty Gaps Among Unemployed Youths

Monday, July 2, 2012

Due to the recent economic recession, more people have become unemployed adding to the security problems that are plaguing the country. Evelyn Okoruwa writes on how call centres could bridge poverty gap by providing makeshift jobs for the country’s teeming youths.

Nigeria has experienced a lot of issues recently ranging from insecurity, poverty, unemployment of the youths which have resulted in different social vices such as militancy, robbery, prostitution and a lot more.

Some of these problems can definitely be solved if there are employment opportunities in other sectors apart from the oil sector.

A lot of people has the impression that the oil sector is the only important sector in the economy, but according to the chairman house committee on communication, Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, “after the petroleum sector, I think the next sector is the telecommunication industry, if I must be honest with you, it is even more important than the petroleum sector because if you don’t have a car, you won’t be bothered, but once you don’t have a phone in your pocket, it will seem as if your entire day is completely messed up”.

The technology industry in Nigeria still has a lot of untapped resources. Experts have suggested that there is the need to tap into other areas in the technology industry, particularly the call centres.

A call centre is a centralised location used by organisations for purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of request from the public by utilising the telephone.

A Contact centre can be bi-directional such as receiving and disseminating information. We also have the emergency call centre, where people can call in when they are in distress or if they notice a suspicious movement.

Source: AllAfrica (link opens in a new window)

Tags
poverty alleviation