The Nation Newspaper

Tag: job creation

  • Ambode to focus on job creation, others

    Ambode to focus on job creation, others

    • To scale up security funding

    THE governoship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, has rolled out what he called, “a 24/7 economic agenda” that will transform Lagos to a mega city model.

    Unveiling his plans to reporters, Ambode promised to set up a Lagos Employment Trust Fund (LETF) with N25 billion over the next four years, adding that this will enhance access to finance of a minimum of N1billion yearly across the five divisions in the state.

    He said: “That will allow our youths and unemployed people have access to adequate finance for entrepreneurial ventures. We will protect the growth of our small and medium scale enterprises by providing tax incentives. We will implement government policies that will encourage the private sector to employ more citizens and foster economic development.”

    To boost internally generated revenue (IGR) in the state, Ambode said the government will improve the collection mechanism through e-governance.

    He also plans to pursue a fully integrated transport management system that combines roads, rail, water and walkways to ease the movement of residents in the city centres and the suburbs.

    “We will introduce and establish officially designated bus stops/routes in Lagos. We will improve on traffic with the construction of new roads and maintenance of existing ones, as well as placing directional signs in strategic places. We will also increase the use of our waterways through channeling and dredging,” he said.

    With the risingdemand for housing in the state, Ambode promised to create communities that are self-sustainable across the state. He also said his administration will improve on the current policy of home ownership through Lagos HOMS and provide ownership options, such as Rent to Own Programme (ROP).

    “This will allow for easy access and reduce congestion at the city centres. We will provide affordable housing schemes by collaborating, through Public Private Partnerships (PPP), to increase the available housing stock. “Our government will also improve on the current policy of home ownership through Lagos HOMS and provide ownership options, such as Rent to Own Program (ROP),” he said

    In the area of security, Ambode plans to increase funding to  security in order to sustain the success recorded by the present administration.

    He said: “We will boost the State Security Fund to scale up the successes recorded so far. We will continue with the city lighting project by expanding the Independent Power Project (IPP) to enhance the security of lives and property across the state. In addition, our government will embark on the acquisition of the latest advanced security communications technology that will track and monitor the daily activities of the state.”

    Ambode also promised to encourage collaboration between the private sector and the government such that the partnership will help government identity areas of growth.

    “We will encourage the creation of a Corporate Social Responsibility Trust Fund (CSR-TF) by the private sector, to be managed by a Board of Trustees charged with the responsibility of identifying growth opportunities yearly and financing such opportunities to further boost economic development across sectors and communities in the state,” he promised.

    Top on his agenda too education. Ambode plans to provide free education up to the senior secondary school level to ensure that no child is denied the right to education. He also plans to provide one meal per day to students to guarantee a healthy learning environment.

    He prmised to seek collaboration with the private sector to ensure the sustainability of the state bursary and scholarship initiatives for tertiary institutions, capacity development for the informal sector as well as skill acquisition through technical and vocational training for residents of the state.

    “We will encourage the private sector to partner with government in this regard as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. We will also deepen skills,” he said.

    He also said health sector will not be left unattended to since health is wealth.

    To make this happen, he promised to introduce free medical care for children from birth to age six and pregnant women on both pre-natal and ante-natal care.

    He said: “Our senior citizens will also enjoy free healthcare from 65 years onwards.We will improve on the quality of Primary Healthcare system and make it more accessible, thereby reducing the overdependence on our general hospitals. We will activate emergency services in all our hospitals.”

    On agriculture, he said his government will build on  current administration’s efforts by opening up the  untapped aquatic and seafood resources in the state.

    “We will provide incentives for agricultural processing companies, thereby providing employment for our bulging youth population,” he added.

    While the current administration has changed the face of tourism, culture and sports, Ambode promised to increase the avenues to showcase the  distinct and diverse culture of the state through the establishment of museums and heritage centers. He added that water parks for children and youths will be created in the state by utilising prominent natural resource in the state.

    “To make our state a tourism destination in Africa, we will also develop our waterfront by providing recreational facilities and encourage investors to invest more in tourism infrastructure.

    “Our unique cultural heritage will be promoted and enhanced to attract tourists globally. This will also create a secondary market for job creation. We will create community sport centers to encourage our youth development,” he said.

    He also unveiled plans tolift the arts and entertainment sector (Nollywood) by providing grants to filsm producers in the movie and music industries to encourage growth in the sectors.

    To acheive this, Ambode promised to revive the Lagos Film Office and encourage investors to build theatres, cinemas and art galleries across the state.

    “We will partner with the entertainment industry to develop sustainable structures and frameworks to support interested and upcoming youths,” he promised.

  • Ridicule of job creation and road safety management (2)

    Monitoring and evaluation of the Decade of Action for Road Safety –

    Through:

    •Monitoring of indicators;

    •Tracking milestones linked to the decade; and

    •Mid – term and end – term evaluation of the decade.

    It is expected that each country will develop and publish national reports and organise events to discuss progress and adapt plans.

    In Nigeria, the attention is so much on revenue generation and unhealthy rivalry among state governments, State Vehicle Inspection Officers, Nigeria Police and the Federal Road Safety Commission among others instead of focusing on accomplishing the Pillars of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety for which Nigeria is a party.

    The manifestations in Nigeria include:

    •The rivalry between the Federal Road Safety Commission and the Nigeria Police over who has the right to do the Biometric Central Motor Registration (BCMR).

    •The rivalry between the Federal Road Safety Commission, the State Vehicle Inspection Officers and State drivers Institute over who has the right to regulate Driving Schools.

    •The push by the Federal Road Safety Commission of the obtention of the new plate numbers by vehicle owners.

    All the above are part of the focus of those responsible for the promotion of safety on Nigerian roads, a case of gross distraction while irreparable lives and valuable properties are perishing on Nigeria roads daily as a result of the increasing rate of road accidents.

    Unless the Federal and State Governments, Federal Road Safety Commission and other Stakeholders get more unbiasely and unselfishly committed to the accomplishment of the goals of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety and take result – oriented proactive actions, it will be excuse galore by the year 2020 just as we are full of excuses to justify our failure in the accomplishment of the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

    The increasing rate of unemployment and road accidents are time bombs which will not do all classes of people (the rich, the poor, the old and the young) and the image of Nigeria any good.

  • Ridicule of job creation and road safety management

    Ridicule of job creation and road safety management

    It is good to hear that the Federal, State and Local Governments have created millions of jobs in the past two or three years. Some of these jobs include Nigerian Graduates employed by construction companies for two years road construction contracts at a salary of N600.00 (six hundred naira only) per day. Some of these jobs include youths trained in various trade areas but without start-up tools kit for them to become self employed (virtually all of them still remain unemployed).

    Some of the jobs include road shoulder clearing, sweeping and cleaning at a salary of N10,000.00 per month (from which they are to feed, settle house rent and other expenses).

    Some of the jobs include youths offered vocational training in trade areas that cannot pass the tests of profitability and sustainability. The Finance Minister recently said that over one million youths join the labour market annually. The ILO and NBS report also confirmed high youth unemployment in Nigeria.

    Several of our leaders have traveled to Malaysia. They only looked but did not see the benefits of using the legal set backs on all Nigerian roads to plant various cash crops and medicinal plants that have great and continuous economic values among other beneficial policies that can be profitably emulated.

    Which of the governments (Federal, State and Local) has passed the test of real job creation in Nigeria? By my own personal research and assessment, there is none. How long will the governments continue to play the politics of figures?

    In the same vein, the rate of road crashes and fatalities still remain high in Nigeria because of the high degree of insincerity among the governments, government agencies and other stakeholders. Their focus is predominantly on revenue generation and egotism rather than on disaster prevention and life saving.

    The United Nations decade of Action for Road Safety (2011 – 2020) has entered the fourth year but Nigeria is still very far from taking any serious and result-oriented action on the Pillars of the UN Action plan which include the following:

    Pillar 1: Road Safety Management – “Adhere to and fully implement UN legal instruments and encourage the creation of regional road safety instruments. Encourage the creation of multi – sectoral partnerships and designation of lead agencies with the capacity to develop and lead the delivery of national road safety strategies, plans and targets, underpinned by the data collection and evidential research to assess countermeasure decision and monitor implementation and effectiveness”.

    Pillar 2: Safer roads and mobility – “Raise the inherent safety and proactive quality of road networks for the benefit of all road users, especially the most vulnerable (e.g. pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and tricyclists). This will be achieved through the implementation of various road infrastructure agreements under the UN framework, road infrastructure assessment and improved safety – conscious planning, design, construction and operation of roads.”

    Pillar 3: Safer vehicles – “Encourage universal development of improved vehicle safety technology for both passive and active safety through a combination of harmonisation of relevant global standards, consumer information schemes and incentives to accelerate the uptake of new technologies.”

    Pillar 4: Safer road users – “Develop comprehensive programmes to improve road users behaviour. Sustained or increased enforcement of laws and standards, combined with public awareness / education to increase seat – belt and helmet wearing rates, and to reduce drink – driving, speed, over speeding and other risk factors.”

    Pillar 5: Post Crash Response – “Increase responsiveness to post crash emergencies and improve the ability of health and other systems to provide appropriate emergency treatment and longer term rehabilitation for crash victims.”

     

    Monitoring and evaluation of the decade of Action for Road Safety –

     

    Through:

     

    (a) Monitoring of indicators;

    (b) Tracking milestones linked to the decade; and

    (c) Mid – term and end – term evaluation of the Decade.

     

    It is expected that each country will develop and publish national reports and organise events to discuss progress and adapt plans.

     

    In Nigeria, the attention is so much on revenue generation and unhealthy rivalry among state governments, State Vehicle Inspection Officers, Nigeria Police and the Federal Road Safety Commission among others instead of focusing on accomplishing the Pillars of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety for which Nigeria is a party.

     

    The manifestations in Nigeria include:

    (1) The rivalry between the Federal Road Safety Commission and the Nigeria Police over who has the right to do the Biometric Central Motor Registration (BCMR).

    (2) The rivalry between the Federal Road Safety Commission, the State Vehicle Inspection Officers and State Drivers Institute over who has the right to regulate Driving Schools.

    (3) The push by the Federal Road Safety Commission of the obtention of the new plate numbers by vehicle owners.

     

    All the above are part of the focus of those responsible for the promotion of safety on Nigeria roads, a case of gross distraction while irreparable lives and valuable properties are perishing on Nigeria roads daily as a result of the increasing rate of road accidents.

     

    Unless the Federal and State Governments, Federal Road Safety Commission and other Stakeholders get more unbiasely and unselfishly committed to the accomplishment of the goals of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety and take result – oriented proactive actions, it will be excuse galore by the year 2020 just as we are currently full of excuses to justify our failure in the accomplishment of the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

     

    The increasing rate of unemployment and road accidents are time bombs which will not do all classes of people (the rich, the poor, the old and the young) and the image of Nigeria any good.

     

     

  • One up for job creation

    One up for job creation

    BOI, NYSC joint initiative on graduate employment is worthy of praise

    ONCE upon a time, it was up to government to “give jobs”. Not much later, the graduate just needed to finish his final paper before he or she was snapped up by queuing players in the private sector, hungry for his or her services.

    But those golden eras of easy graduate employment appear gone — at least for now. It is another era of private job creation and self-employment. That is why the collaborative effort by the Bank of Industry (BOI) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), is so fresh and innovative; it is worthy of praise.

    The initiative is based on two pillars: rural and general. The rural initiative is hinged on a Village Renewal Programme (VRP), which focus is agricultural business and introduction of agric-boosting technologies like greenhouses, storage facilities, crop preservation, agricultural processing, animal husbandry and fisheries. The idea is to track business opportunities in these sectors; and train graduates with requisite skills to key into them. As pilot, VRP will be launched in three villages, in each of the 109 senatorial districts, nationwide.

    The other leg is a Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme, which seeks to collaborate with the likes of Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and Entrepreneurship Development Centres (EDCs) to help train and equip corps members with the skills to run own businesses.

    The target is 200, 000 fresh graduates each year; and the idea is to make these beneficiaries run their own businesses and employ labour. It is also to inculcate the spirit of public-private partnership, in which Nigerian youths can partner with governments to stave off future unemployment crises.

    What is more? The programme is already showcasing a beneficiary, Simon Ocheni, a 2012 Batch “C” corps member and graduate of SAED, who from gari processing, has come up with two food brands, Soaking Wakkis and Kasso Flakes; and is already in business. What, according to NYSC sources, started as a one-man business, now engages 10 workers — and that is only the beginning.

    NYSC has also walked its talk pertaining empowerment: Mr. Ocheni’s products, the NYSC has announced, would be purchased and served in NYSC’s orientation camps. Such a ready market can only provide incentives and motivation for more corps members to avail themselves of the training opportunity.

    Under the job creating collaboration, BOI would mobilise foreign development agencies to fund the training, aside from integrating VRP and SAED into states’ matching fund schemes. It would also link the NYSC Directorate with states it has partnerships, to maximise gains from VRP launch, just as it would link up with Nigerian private sector partners to partner in the entrepreneurial trainings.

    On its own part, NYSC would feed beneficiary communities of VRP with affordable labour, who will in turn sharpen their skills, by having hands-on experience to test-run future entrepreneurial careers, aside from structuring the NYSC community development programme to fit into both VRP and SAED.

    By this impressive initiative, NYSC, often charged with lack of compassion on corps members’ plight, has redeemed its image. It has demonstrated that it is a community-savvy agency, which has the best intentions for young graduates in its care. BOI too has proved adept at strategic investment in Nigerian youths, perhaps at their most difficult period in the history of their country. Both deserve hearty congratulations.

    Still, the beginning is nothing, if the end is not glorious. That is why both parties should continue to work hard to attain the programme’s goals. But the beneficiaries too should, with two hands, grab this rare opportunity.

    It could well make a difference between future prosperity and hopelessness.

  • ‘Entrepreneurship can boost job creation’

    Director-General, Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), Dr Gloria Elemo, said unleashing a transformational change through tapping into the creativity and ambition of existing and aspiring entrepreneurs will boost the economy.

    Speaking in Lagos, Elemo said the institute is determined to train technology-based entrepreneurs on various technologies to establish profitable businesses and create millions of employment opportunities.

    The FIIRO boss said the institute had developed over 250 technologies, with over 50 of such ready for immediate commercialisation.

    Elemo said in fulfillment of its objectives, FIIRO had achieved key developments and major research breakthroughs. She listed some of the major breakthroughs and developments made by the institute so far to include the development and utilisation of high quality cassava flour for cassava-wheat composite flour production for bread making, which received Presidential attention in 2004; cassava chips and pellets production, which products are used mainly for animal feeds; upgrading and mechanisation of the traditional method of fufu production; ethanol production from cassava; glucose syrup production from cassava; research and development pioneering activities in the areas of cosmetics and soap making; the development of soy-ogi, a protein-enriched food for both adults and infants; and edible mushroom.

    She said: “In the area of collaboration, the institute is in partnership with varsities, polytechnics, research institutes, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and industries, with the aim of commercialising our research output to create more jobs for Nigerians.”

    Chief Executive, Ezira Waters, Chief Chris Alachebe, said only genuine efforts towards establishing cottage industries where Nigerians will be gainfully engaged would solve the problem of unemployment.

    He noted that the large number of unemployed youths has become a serious issue in terms of its potential for national insecurity which may result in possible engagement in crummy lifestyles.

    “In a bid to help ameliorate this problem, through God’s help, I established a water production cottage industry where a considerable number of youths in the community have been employed. The establishment of the water production industry which produces the high rated Ezira premium table water was borne out of the desire to create jobs for the people.

    “This is a way of helping to curb youths’ restiveness and also a way of helping to achieve community development.

    “I thought deeply of how to empower the youth and the community. I decided, in addition to my other existing going concerns, to establish the Ezira premium water cottage industry where we produce sachet water, 50cl, 75cl, 1.5cl and the 19.5 jar categories. Since the commencement of the cottage industry, I am satisfied that a great number of hitherto unemployed people have been engaged because the water we produce has received recognition and acceptance by the public as it is ordered by people from almost all the 36 states of the federation, including Abuja,” Alachebe.

    He added that it does not require so much money to establish small-scale businesses, saying “if one is waiting to get millions of Naira before one commences the establishment of small business, one may wait forever. What is important is for one to begin with any small amount of money and gradually, one would accomplish one’s desire.”

    He advised wealthy Nigerians not to stock-pile whatever money they have. Rather, they should use it to establish industries that would absorb “this army of unemployed graduates” that Nigeria has, even as he said that “any money stocked in the bank or elsewhere that is not used to establish industries where Nigerians would be employed and which would serve as their means of livelihood is a waste and smacks of selfishness.

    “If money in private hands are spread by way of building cottage industries, youths wouldn’t have the time to be restive or engage in criminal activities as they would be busy eking out a living. If job opportunities are created for the teeming youths, it will go a long way in curbing the incidences of armed robbery and kidnapping which are fast growing into huge industries.

    “The problem the society is experiencing is that it has not sincerely and genuinely been committed to finding solutions to the troubles the youth are going through.”

    He said the nation has to enable Nigerians to acquire or improve entrepreneurial skills and knowledge.

    He said entrepreneurship can boost job creation.

    According to him, accelerating industrialisation requires a focus entrepreneurship, stressing that this is the key aspect to fully capture the potential of the nation’s dynamic work force and boosting inclusive sustainable development continent wide.

    He urged the government to foster job creation and entrepreneurship as critical ways to build a more prosperous and sustainable future.