The Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige has affirmed that Nigeria can no longer depend on proceeds from crude oil as the mainstay of its economy but rather as a catalyst for other employment generating sectors.

Addressing the meeting of the National Employment Council in Abuja today, Sen. Chris Ngige said: “Although our country is out of recession, we must not go back to depending on crude oil.”

Speaking further, Ngige tasked the Council to fashion out more sustainable and efficient ways of creating quantum jobs that will absorb unemployed Nigerian youths. “I am asking members of the National Employment Council to put on their thinking caps so that they can fashion out ways of job creation to give us something new.” He said

The Minister emphasized that the job creation efforts of the Federal Government, such as N-power and Anchor Borrowers programme amongst others have yielded the much-anticipated results and take countless youths out of unemployment

Also in his remarks, the Senior Special Assistant to Mr President on Job Creation/Youth Employment Mr Afolabi Imoukuhede said that the job creation efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari have yielded positive results “the results are out there for all to see and experience; the impacts are out there and the lives that have been touched are speaking out continuously.”

“We will keep improving; it is part of the responsibilities of the employment council to see to it that all employment creation initiatives of the present administration are institutionalized and sustained.” Afolabi enthused.