FG considers new approach to job creation

The Federal Government will soon unveil a new plan that will help to create about one million fresh jobs annually.
The Special Adviser to the President on Job Creation, Mr. Obi Adim, who disclosed this during a chat with journalists in Abuja on Friday, said the initiative would address the country’s high unemployment rate in a pragmatic way.
Nigeria’s unemployment rate, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, currently stands at 23.9 per cent.
Adim, who addressed journalists in company with the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation, Josephine Washima, said already the initiative, Integrated Youth Development Programme, had received a lot of buy-in from stakeholders, adding the full details of the programme would be released before the end of next month.
He said, “We have developed a programme called the Integrated Youth Development Initiative, which is a web-based platform, where youth development would be monitored and processed.
“We are looking at creating about one million jobs a year. We have various sectors we are looking at such as Information and Communication Technology, entrepreneurship, and skills acquisition.”

Asked how the programme was different from other job creation initiatives such as the Youth Enteprise with Innovation Programme, Washima said, “The YouWin programme is a business competition, which is online-based and this is totally different from the Integrated Youth Empowerment Initiative. Our initiative is not a competition but it will empower the youth at the end of the day if properly implemented.”
She said for real transformation to take place, the youth needed be equipped with the required skills, adding that “statistics given to us by the National Bureau of Statistics and the National Population Commission say the youth is about 50 million in number and this is a number we will not ignore.”

ViaNigerian BusinessNews Staff on June 30, 2013