The Nation Newspaper

Tag: job creation

  • Road shoulder, safety and job creation

    Road shoulder, safety and job creation

    I Can remember vividly that in the 70’s, some government workers were responsible for the clearing of drainage system and the road shoulders, but today, it’s like the governments at the Federal, state and local levels are no more seeing the need to regularly keep the drainage system clean and keep the road shoulders clear of every form of obstruction.

    What we often see today are over-filled drainage or gutters with water and some flowing over to cause hydroplaning and allied problems for road users.

    The most disturbing which prompted me to write this article is the case of road shoulders overgrown with weeds.

    I recently travelled from Ikole in Ekiti State to Oshogbo in Osun State. At a point, the road was taken over by overgrown weeds thereby narrowing the two-lane road to only one. Hence the incessant crashes along the road.

    Keeping the road shoulder clear of every form of obstruction will enable road users exercise more result-oriented visual or hazard perception skills for accident avoidance. It will also create opportunity for a faulty vehicle to park on the road shoulder for repairs without obstructing the traffic. Imagine what will happen if a vehicle breaks down on a two-lane road which has already been narrowed down to one lane by overgrown weeds. The sharp bends and the slopes on the road make it more hazardous.

    Thousands of unemployed Youths can be employed and equipped to regularly clear the drainages and road shoulders along the intra-State and inter-state roads. This will also reduce the rate of unemployment in the country as well as reduce the rate of road traffic crashes and fatalities.

    While passionately pleading with the governments to wake up to these challenges, I also want to plead with the road construction companies to make it mandatory to construct lay-bys at strategic points of every road to prevent a situation where vehicles that wants to drop passengers or needs repairs will obstruct free flow of traffic.

    Regular monitoring of roads by officers of the relevant government Ministries, Departments and Agencies is highly expedient to prevent further loss of lives and valuable properties on Nigerian roads. Prevention is always better, safer and cheaper than cure.

     

     

  • Job creation: experts seek economic diversification

    Experts have said until indices that drive the economy and expand employment are prioritised, the rate of unemployment in the country will continue to rise.

    They argued that what drives employment is consumer demand, sayingn that if the consumer demand is high, investors, producers and manufacturers will expand their capacities which will in turn create  jobs.

    The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently in its report, projected that Nigeria is likely going to experience an increased unemployment rate in 2018.

    NBS said Nigeria’s unemployment rate has worsened from 16.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2017 to 18.8 per cent in the third quarter of the same year also. According to data released by the NBS, the rise was occasioned by the economic recession that saw the nation’s growth decelerate, until September 2017 when Nigeria finally exited recession.

    They submitted that the combined forces of double-digit inflation, high unemployment rate and a fragile Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, which is still below the rate of population growth, may conspire to prevent any significant economic improvement.

    To curtail the rising crime wave across the country, the experts called on the government to fast-track its diversification strategy as encapsulated in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) by supporting growth in income enhancing and job creating sectors, such as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), mining and agriculture.

    A retired Federal Permanent Secretary, Mr Philip Asiodu, who at a forum recently spoke on, ‘Unemployment, youth restiveness and development challenges’, lamented the rate of youth unemployment  in the country.

    He observed that about three quarter of the crimes committed are done by young men who are jobless and become readily disposed to social vices. He described the involvement of thousands who perish at the Mediterranean Sea and the traumatised youths returning from Libya as disgraceful and a national embarrassment.

    Corroborating Asiodu, the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Lagos State Council, Idowu Adelakan, also attributed the high rate of crime in the country to the high level of unemployment, especially among youths.

    He said the rate of crime, which has snowballed in recent times, was the result of unemployed graduates roaming the streets and causing insecurity.

    An economist, Henry Boyo, said that so long as inflation is in double digit, it will be inappropriate to say there will be increase in the rate of employment possibilities in 2018 or in any year, because where inflation is in one or two per cent, it conserves and protects consumers’ demand.

    He cited an instance when there is a high demand for bread, stating that if there is no consumer demand for bread, there would be no baker but as a result of rising inflation, if the whole of Nigeria could buy  100 loaves of bread before but has made it possible that the whole of Nigeria can only buy a loaf of bread, it means that half of the bakeries in Nigeria would have to close up.

    In essence, it means there must be a demand for an item to be produced in the first place before producers and manufacturers can employ.

    According to Boyo, people don’t employ workers just to pay them, rather they employ them so that they can work and produce something.

    He said: “If you have adequate and increasing consumer demand, forget about rise in employment. What determines consumer demand is purchasing power. If you have a situation where you are losing up to 20 per cent of your income every year as a result of inflation, it means you are going to be buying less bread, which translates that you will have less and less people being employed. This is basic.’’

  • World bank consultant urges govt to rehabilitate dams

    World Bank Consultant, Prof. Abel Ogunwale has urged the government to rehabilitate dams across the country to boost food production and job creation.

    Speaking with The Nation, Ogunwale said dams will expand water supplies in drought-affected areas.

    According to him, farmers in the North depend on dams for water to overcome droughts.

    By investing in dams, he said, the government will ensure a safe, resilient environment for agricultural producers, especially in the rural areas.

    He urged the government to look for new ways of mitigating the impact of drought.

    To end  fish and other aquaculture produce import, stakeholders had urged  the Federal Government to lift restriction placed on all water bodies, especially underutilised dams.

    For instance, farmers in Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State appealed to the Federal and state government to hasten the completion of Jare Dam.

    Speaking on behalf of the farmers, Alhaji Abdullahi Lawal,  leader of grain dealers in Bakori, said the dam is a Federal Government’s project, adding that it was abandoned due to non-funding.

    Lawal said the completion of the dam projects would make available water for irrigation, boost food production, and eceonomic activities in the area.

    The traditional leader noted that the farmers in the area were  experiencing losses due to the delay of the project.

    “It is important to complete the dam so that it will enable control water levels and increase the interest of farmers in the area. The enthusiasm of the farmers on the potential of the project had since waned,” he said.

    In 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari declared that his administration would construct more 400 dams to boost irrigation across the country before the expiration of his term next year.

    President Muhamadu Buhari told delegates from Africa and other continents during  the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Food Crisis Prevention Network held in Abuja that the country would  experience three harvesting seasons when more dams become operational in the next two years.

    Buhari, represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said: “We can no longer rely on rainfall. We have to create more dams, water reservoirs and insist on harvesting food at least three times in a year.

    “I am happy to tell you that that programme is being designed and in the next two and half years, we shall add to the existing 200 dams at least another 400 dams across the country to encourage irrigation on a large scale.”

  • Adeboye charges government on job creation

    Adeboye charges government on job creation

    The General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has charged government at all levels to focus on creating jobs and other social investment programmes that would help in ameliorating the suffering of the people. He made the call at a thanksgiving and prayer programme organised by the Throne of Grace Chapel at the church headquarters in Lagos State.

    Adeboye warned that Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gun powder if nothing is done to address the rising cases of unemployment among the youths in the country. “Our children are graduating without any hope of employment. This is a sad tale and in 2018, government must galvanise all relevant stakeholders to get our children employed. We will be creating a lot of social problems and insecurity if we fold our hands and refuse to act,” he said.

     

  • ‘LSETF has impacted on employment, job creation’

    The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), Mr. Akintunde Oyebode, has said in just one year of operation of the Fund, Lagosians have been empowered to start up their own business and also be employers of labour. This, he said, is in line with the vision of the state government while establishing the Fund on March 5, laast year.

    Oyebode, who was on a courtesy call to The Nation office in Lagos at the weekend, disclosed that in its short period of operation so far, approval has been given for 6, 500 loans, but the actual disbursed loans is to about 4, 200 people, at five percent interest rate.

    He further revealed that compliance to repayment has been encouraging, considering that the Fund’s credit losses currently stand at 5.5 percent, a figure he termed “still okay.”

    This low level, Oyebode said, is as a result of the stringent due diligence the administrators of the Fund carries out on applicants before granting them loans. He said that although no collateral is demanded from applicants before granting them loans, however, the conditions required ensures that beneficiaries of the loan cannot elope with the money as their guarantors are usually people of good standing in the society, who would not want their integrity damaged.

    “Physical collateral doesn’t give confidence that there won’t be default, but getting credible people to stand for applicant is more effective; this is evident in the level of compliance to repayment of loans by the beneficiaries,” Oyebode said.  He however said the Fund administrators are not resting on their oars as they are still working hard to recover all outstanding loans.

    As part of efforts towards recovering the loans, he said defaulters are being charged to court. This, he explained, is to let beneficiaries and the public know that the LSETF facility is not ‘jamboree money’ and to let people know that there is a consequence for not paying back.

    The Executive secretary said apart from the impact of this fund on the borrower, there is also the impact of being able to create more jobs and employment for more people. This, he referred to, as “the social impact on the society.”

    He further said that for beneficiaries, whose businesses have grown beyond the N5 million limit, the Fund can grant, the LSETF could assist by introducing them to another layer of financing from other financial institutions to source for credit based on the fact that they were forthright in their loan repayment.

  • Ooni to govts: let your policies, programmes drive job creation

    Ooni to govts: let your policies, programmes drive job creation

    The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has urged governments to let their policies and programmes drive employment for youths.

    The monarch, who advised governments to ensure small scale businesses survive through their policies, spoke at his palace at Ile-Ife in Osun State during the launch of this year’s Aso Ofi Festival, which will take place in Iseyin, a town in Oyo State.

    According to Oba Ogunwusi, several vocations synonymous with the Yoruba race are big enough to provide jobs for people.

    The Ooni noted that Oduduwa, the progenitor of the Yoruba race, first discovered the cotton plant and transformed it to wool thread to make aso ofi at ancient Ife.

    He said: “Oduduwa got the inspiration from spider cobwebs and grew a large cotton plantation. The fittings of aso ofi were later perfected by the children of Ogun (the first blacksmith) – Abere (needle) and Obe (knife).

    “Olokun, who is also known as ‘Oluofi’, started the venture with the loom thread weaving along with Segi beads. The remnants of the production site were recently discovered at Ile-Ife and a scientific dating said they are over 4,000 years old.

    “Their descendants migrated to settle at Iseyin and later taught their other descendants – Anu (Ethiopia) and Nubia (Sudan) – all the way to present India (Orissa region, now called Odisha in India) and now all over the world. Iseyin people still practise aso ofi venture till date. If we don’t tell our stories by ourselves, nobody will.”

    The Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Abdul-Ganiyu Salawudeen, who led weavers from his town to Ife for the launch, said Olu Ofi, who he said was of the founders of Iseyin, left Ile-Ife several years earlier and settled at Iseyin.

    The Aseyin, who noted that weaving is a major vocation in Iseyin, said residents, especially youths, engaged in weaving and reduce crime rate in the ancient town.

    The monarch urged trade, culture enthusiasts and promoters to participate in the festival.

  • Inflow of FDIs: Obaseki intensifies drive in Singapore   

    Inflow of FDIs: Obaseki intensifies drive in Singapore   

     

    …Investments in Agric, Tech, Trade top Agenda

     

    Over ten key players in the organised private sector of Singapore as well as state-owned enterprises, met with the Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, on Friday, in the Asian country, as he intensified his quest for foreign investors and partners to bolster the state’s industrialisation drive.

     

    The governor’s meeting with the expanded group of industrialists was an opportunity for the Edo State government to build strong ties with the leading companies in Asia operating from Singapore, and attract them to invest in the state’s manufacturing, agribusiness, digital services, food processing and urban development sectors.

     

    The meeting was attended by the Singaporean Consul General to Nigeria, Haresh Aswani; Acting High Commissioner of Nigeria to Singapore, Zainab Tani Zakari-Awami, while the business community was led by the Vice Chairman of the country’s apex chamber of commerce, the Singapore Business Federation, Shabbir Hassanbhai. 

     

    Other Singaporean industry actors present at the meeting were Chief Sustainability Officer, Wilmar International Pte Ltd., Jeremy Goon; Senior Vice President- Retail, Aalst Chocolate Pte Ltd., Cheah Klu Lye; Chairman, Crop Protection-Commercial, Asiatic Agricultural Industries Pte Ltd., Chuan Chek Chee; Group Senior Managing Director, Business Development (Middle East and Africa), Hyflux Limited, Kum Mum Lock; Regional Business Development Manager, Surbana Jurong Consultancies Pte Ltd, Mohammed Ail Fateh, and Manager, Middle East &Africa, Informational Enterprise Singapore, Aaron Goh, among others.

     

    In his presentation, Obaseki paraded the ongoing reform in technical education, with the revamping of Benin Technical College that will produce resourceful and technology-savvy workforce for industries; the ease of doing business in Edo State, driven by laws that guarantee security of investments and profit repatriation and hospitable people with age-old heritage of hosting investors and visitors.

     

    He assured the Asian investors that Edo State was fast becoming a destination of choice for foreign investment as the All Progressives Congress-led government places high premium on the creation of 200, 000 jobs in the first instance, the religious adherence to the rule of law and the adoption of cost-efficient, technology-driven processes.

     

    The governor told his visibly elated hosts that the proximity of Edo State to Lagos State, the largest market in Africa was an asset, and so also is her rich soil and climate, which guarantees rainfall for over ten months of the year.

      

    He added that the state has “huge potential in agribusiness, as it is home to the biggest oil palm companies in Nigeria. The focus on diversified investments in agriculture, manufacturing, digital services and urban regeneration is an acknowledgement of the need to build a strong economy in Edo State, one that will have huge impact on the lives of the people through job creation and capacity building.”  

     

    Recall that Governor Obaseki recently sealed arrangement for the Tolaram Group to invest $50 million in oil palm and cassava production to be used in the company’s manufacturing industries, an initiative that is expected to create about 50,000 jobs in Edo State.

  • Edo, Tolaram Group mull $50m agro-allied investment

    Edo, Tolaram Group mull $50m agro-allied investment

    …As Obaseki engages Singaporean investors

    The Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has taken his job creation and investment drive to Singapore, where arrangements are being fine tuned to attract a $50million worth of investment that will create 50, 000 jobs in the state.

    The deals cover investments in agriculture, specifically, oil palm and cassava to feed the processing plants of a leading Singaporean company, Tolaram Group.

    Other areas of the ongoing talks with Singaporean enterprises include infrastructure, digital services, real estate – the Edo New City Development project, amongst others.

    Obaseki is accompanied on the business visit by the First Lady, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki, Commissioner for Wealth Creation, Cooperatives and Employment, Hon. Emmanuel Usoh, and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kadiri Bashiru.

    The visit to Singapore is consolidating on an earlier visit to Indonesia, where the Governor sealed deals with the Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute in Medan, to leverage on the institute’s research capacity in reinvigorating Edo State oil palm and allied industries.

    According to Obaseki, economic diversification into areas where the state has competitive advantage, like agriculture, is the key to job and wealth creation on a sustainable basis.

  • Edo to curb human trafficking through job creation

    Edo to curb human trafficking through job creation

    Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state has said that the state government was planning to end incidences of human trafficking in the state through job creation, saying it was unfortunate that one out of every five trafficked persons were from the state.

    Speaking when he visited the headquarters of National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Abuja, Gov. Obaseki said the state will collaborate with the NDE to create jobs for the unemployed in the state through skill acquisition and training.

    Deputy Director, Information & Public Relations of the Directorate, Edmund Onwuliri said in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja that the governor was full of praises for the efforts of the NDE towards job creation and skills development for the unemployed in the country.

    While extolling the potentials and achievements of the NDE over the years, the governor said the state government decided to collaborate with the agency because “we realise you have government mandate to create jobs, you have veritable job programmes, you also have Skills Centres to drive Vocational Trainings.

    “We are also looking into the direction of agriculture, we want our people to be trained in Poultry farming, animal rearing, fishery and even food processing. Today, we cannot talk about entrepreneurship training in agriculture without considering technology. We are convinced that NDE has done a lot in these areas. It makes a lot of sense coming to you’’.

    The governor said it was unfortunate that one out of every five people involved in human trafficking is an Edo Indigene, adding that “the problem of human trafficking will be fully addressed by his administration through the provision jobs and raise the literacy level of our people through massive enlightenment.”

    Governor Obaseki further said that the problem of human trafficking is highly related to unemployment, adding that many youths are lured into prostitution in foreign lands because of lack of decent jobs in the country.

    The Governor observed that the problem militating against socio-economic development in Nigeria is not the lack of money and resources, but wastages emanating from duplication of functions, facilities and efforts.

    He added that the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has enough structures nationwide to address the problem of unemployment in any state of the federation, stressing that the “NDE has the resources, tested job programmes, good ideas and people to drive our mission’’.

    Speaking while receiving the governor, Director-General of the NDE  Dr. Nasir Ladan Mohammed, described Governor Obaseki as a very intelligent technocrat with great passion for youth employment.

    Ladan who briefed the governor on the potentials, programmes, activities, achievements and new employment initiatives of the NDE towards creating employment opportunities for the unemployed in Nigeria said that with the spread and experience of the NDE, it has become a force in Nigeria as far as job creation is concerned.

    He described the unemployment situation in the country as worrisome and said the challenge should not be left to the Federal Government alond, adding that inter- governmental and agency collaborations is one of the ways to effectively combat unemployment in the country.

    He decried the unfortunate situation where thousands of young Nigerians have lost their lives in the Sahara desert and Mediterranean Sea while trying to cross to Europe in search of jobs, adding that the NDE will soon launch a robust and formidable website which will help in generating data for the unemployed and also serve as intervention tool for labour export.

    According to him, the concept will be modelled after those of the Philippines and Bangladesh where labour exchange and diaspora in-flows contribute significantly to the economy. ‘

    He said “Nigerians will travel if they wish but it shall be with dignity because there will be governmental interactions, this will also go a long way to checkmate the menace of human trafficking’’.

    He said the Edo State office of the NDE will be directed to work out a proper framework for an effective collaboration with the State Government in employment creation.

     

     

  • Job creation: Senate to partner U.S. Chamber of Commerce on ICT

    Job creation: Senate to partner U.S. Chamber of Commerce on ICT

    The Senate has plans to work with the United States (U.S.) Chamber of Commerce African Business Centre to develop an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector towards diversifying the economy and job creation, it was learnt yesterday.
    Senate President Bukola Saraki reportedly made the pledge in Abuja when a group, led by Ms. Leila Ndiaye, visited him ahead of the launch of the ICT Working Group in Abuja.
    Saraki, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, thanked the U.S. Chamber for its interest in working together with relevant agencies to develop an ICT sector in Nigeria.
    He described as timely, the upcoming launch of the Working Group for the country as the nation seeks to diversify its economy and develop new avenues to reduce unemployment rate, particularly among the youths.
    Saraki noted that the activities of the Working Group will create many Public Private Partnership (PPP) opportunities and he assured the delegation of the National Assembly’s commitment to the development of the nation’s ICT infrastructure for both commercial and social advancement.
    Saraki said: “For ICT to thrive and lead to the creation of jobs and other social services, the National Assembly and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would need to work together to initiate laws that would create an environment that wiil attract foreign investments, support local start-ups and encourage global competitive models.
    ”What I think I know how to do is how to make things happen in government. What we need to do is to sit down with you and see what laws we need to pass, what laws do we need to amend, what regulations do we need to review to strengthen the ICT sector in Nigeria to truly create jobs and create opportunities that will bring investors to the sector.”
    He called on the Working Group to come up with a report, specifying what laws needed to be passed to support the development and growth of the ICT industry in the country.
    “Our responsibility is that when you give us that road map, we can come up with some documentation that will highlight the priority on what to do, and I can assure you that it will not be an exercise in futility”, he added.
    He said it has become imperative for the government to look at ways of eliminate multiple taxation across local and state jurisdictions and provide other incentives to reduce the operating costs of fledgling technology firms.
    Saraki, however, reiterated the Senates’s support for the Working Group for the delivery of its mandate.
    Explaining the team’s mission, Ms Ndiaye said the Working Group would bring together public and private organisations that are interested in developing Nigeria’s ICT sector to enhance its commercial and social impact.
    “The idea is to get the Working Group to review the relevant laws and regulations governing the ICT sector and determine a list of priority reform recommendations”, Ms Ndiaye said.