The Honourable Minister of State Labour and Employment, Prof. Stephen Ocheni today expressed the concern and commitment of the Federal Government to address the high rate of unemployment among Nigerian youths. Saying that the projected economic growth rate to make Nigeria one of the top twenty world economies by the year 2020, and the robust goals of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan cannot be achieved if a significant number of the productive population remain unemployed or underemployed.
Ocheni made this declaration while delivering the keynote address during a one-day Consultative Meeting on the Resilience of High Unemployment Rate in Nigeria organized by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
In his word, “The projected economic growth rate to make Nigeria one of the top twenty world economies by the year 2020, and the robust goals of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan cannot be achieved if a significant number of the productive population remains unemployed or underemployed. The Ministry of Labour and Employment is particularly, concerned about high youth unemployment among graduate and unskilled persons which together form over 80% of unemployed person in Nigeria.”
Speaking further, the Minister of State emphasized that the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has made giant strides in policy and programme measures that favour job creation.
“The present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has made giant strides in policy and programme measures that favour job creation with huge investments in the Works, Housing and Power sectors, which are widely acknowledged to have high propensity for job creation, are examples of such measures. Furthermore, the approval of the National Policy on Employment, which has been pending for years; the National Social Investment Programme, specifically the N-Power content for unemployed graduate, and the Agricultural Anchor Borrower’s Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are also some of the job creation models initiated by this administration.” He emphasized.
While calling on stakeholders to support Federal Government’s efforts at combating the menace of unemployment, Ocheni said. “ I have no doubt in my mind that this gathering boasts of experts in various segments of the employment subsector, and that you have all come prepared to participate effectively in the discussions. Although provision of enabling environment for employment generation fall under the purview of the Federal Government, we need extensive partnerships and collaborations with our stakeholders, which you all represent, to cover more grounds. We seek your views, as experts in the field, on how to rapidly reduce unemployment in Nigeria. The unemployment situation in our country demands commitment and dedication from each and every one of us because the consequences of joblessness among our youths affect us all.” Ocheni stressed.
Earlier in her remarks, the Director Special Project Unit, Dr. Martina Nwordu expressed optimism that although youth unemployment is on the increase, however with the ongoing increased capital utilization such as the N-power programme and the various empowerment programmes being implemented by the National Directorate of Employment, there is hope that the employment situation in the country would improve in the short to medium term.
Furthermore, she added that employment creation and retention of jobs require multi-sectoral and multi-dimensional intervention approaches as efforts have been made in the past by some line Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as Developmental Organizations with little or no impact, therefore, necessitating the need to do more to change the narrative. She concluded.