Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, said
this while declaring open a two-day workshop on “Breaking the Resilience of
High Unemployment Rate in the Country”, on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that the incessant increase of unemployment in the
country was alarming.
According to him, the high unemployment rate of 23.1 per
cent, and underemployment of 16.6 per cent by the National Bureau Statistics
(NBS) of 2019 report was alarming.
“It is a worrisome status as the global poverty capital (World
Bank, 2018); and concomitant high prevalence rate of crimes and criminality,
including mass murders, insurgency, militancy, armed robbery, kidnappings and
drug abuse, among others.
“As if this situation is not scary enough, it is projected
that the unemployment rate for this country will reach 33.5 per cent by 2020,
with consequences that are better imagined, if the trend is not urgently
reversed.
“It is a thing of joy to note that Nigeria has not been
resting on her oars over the years in terms of dedicated efforts to curb the
unemployment problem,” he said.
Ngige said that various government social intervention
programmes targeted at reducing youth unemployment and eradicating poverty have
been implemented by different administrations since Nigeria gained
independence.
The minister also said that available records showed that
between 1972 to date, about 14 different programmes have been implemented.
He said that these programmes included the National
Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPP), implemented between 1972 and
1973.
He said others were the current National Social Investment
Programme (NSIP) which hasn’t been ongoing since 2017, embedded in the National
Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020.
He noted that yet, the unemployment rate and poverty levels
are on steady paths of growth, indicating high resilience against the
intervention efforts.
The minister wondered why some of the intervention efforts
were not yielding expected results.
“What is government and other stakeholders not doing right?
“What changes are needed in the policies, plans and
strategies?
What action areas need priority attention? What roles should
different stakeholders play and what other options are not being exploited?
“Why do we employ expatriates for jobs Nigerians can do or
why can´t Nigerians do these jobs? Why do we have deficits in housing, water,
sanitation, food, entertainment facilities, health care, and education, among
others?
“ How do we deploy our population of productive age to fill
the skills gaps needed for our national development?
“How do we break the resilience of high unemployment rate in
the country?’’
He said that these are some of the questions that triggered
new thoughts and concepts that led to series of activities that preceded the
workshop.
Ngige said that the workshop was aimed at presenting the
outcome of some of government efforts and the commencement of another phase of
the processes.
He, however, called for a collaborative mechanism that would
yield desired results while assuring that the recommendations from the workshop
would receive prompt and sustained attention.
Mr William Alo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and
Employment said the workshop was aimed at examining issues around the
persistent high unemployment rate in Nigeria.
Alo said this was with a view to making concrete
recommendations on how to tackle the menace.
“This workshop is very important to the Ministry of Labour
and Employment due to the direct relevance of the theme to the Ministry’s
mandate.
“However, the fact remains that the consequences of high
unemployment rate in Nigeria affect each and every one of us as individuals and
as members of the Nigerian society.
“The objectives of this workshop are, therefore, to present
the findings of the survey on how to break the Resilience of High Unemployment
Rate in Nigeria to the peer community.
“To stimulate actions towards exploiting untapped available
options for massive job creations; to chart way forward on immediate next steps
that would yield measurable results”.
Mr Dennis Zulu, Country Director, International Labour
Organisation (ILO) in Nigeria, said that unemployment was a major concern to
the organisation, especially in Nigeria.
“So, we believe, therefore, that if Nigeria addresses the
issue of unemployment, it will go a long way to address the whole problem that
is faced in Africa to that extent.
“Let me say that over the years, we have recognised the
commitment of the Federal Government of Nigeria, where it has approved various
initiatives including the adoption of Employment Policy of 2017.
“This was approved by the National Executive Council that
provides a blueprint for strategies as far as the creation of jobs for
Nigerians concerned.
“We have also taken note of the different programmes that
have been implemented by the Office of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
“These are the N-Power programme, SURE- P programme some
years ago and many other ongoing programmes, ultimately supposed to contribute
to the creation of jobs for young people in Nigeria,’’ Zulu said.
Also, Mrs Martina Nwordu, Director, Special Duties/Projects,
Ministry of Labour and Employment called on the participants to commit
themselves.
Nwordu urged them to keep to the objectives of the workshop
which aimed at achieving the goals of reducing the high unemployment rate in
Nigeria.
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