Experts seek greater efforts on jobs creation

Despite economic growth averaging 7 percent during 2004-2012, unemployment rose from 13.4 percent to 27.4 percent in the same period.In particular, youth unemployment rose from 13.4 percent to 42 percent while the increasing unemployment rate is in part due to expansion of labour force resulting from influx of new entrant, it more of a result […]

Despite economic growth averaging 7 percent during 2004-2012, unemployment rose from 13.4 percent to 27.4 percent in the same period.
In particular, youth unemployment rose from 13.4 percent to 42 percent while the increasing unemployment rate is in part due to expansion of labour force resulting from influx of new entrant, it more of a result of failure of economic growth to create substantial employment.
It was on the premise that panelist at a dialogue on jobs creation have renewed their call on the federal government through the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDAN) to redouble her efforts  at raising the production levels of SMEs in the country.
The workshop with the theme:  ‘Jobs creation and employment generation strategies in Nigeria,’ the panelist said government at local levels must cooperate with effort at the center in solving the problems of transportation and electricity to boost economic activities.
Dr Ebere Uneze, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Economic of Africa (CSEA), in his opening remarks said: “An innovative approach to achieving inclusive growth, which is generating interest within the developing community, is the idea of job creation as a means to economic growth, rather than the end.
“Therefore attention is being shifted to exploring innovative ways of creating jobs and prioritizing sectors that offer outstanding jobs potentials in order to achieve more inclusive economic growth,” she said.
Professor of Economics, Sarah Olarewaju Anyanwu who is one of the panelists, said the budgets of all ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) must be tied to employment.
“Government must find a way of empowering those on the informal sector whom statistics have shown are largely women and one way to do this is to get them form cooperative societies at the grassroots to enable government intervention get to them,” she said.
She argued that growth and expansion have been hampered by infrastructural deficiency and inadequate access to capital, noting that an appropriate job creation effort should be focused on easing the constraints to investment and growth of SMEs.
Professor Anyanwu decried the high cost of recruitment and job search in Nigeria especially the attitude of MDAs and corporate institutions defrauding desperate unemployed people with the promise of providing jobs that are not available.
Also speaking at the session, Professor Olu Ajakaiye, Exe-cutive Chairman, African Center for shared Development Capacity Building criticized the private sector for always agitating for improved incentives without showing what they are prepared to do with it.
“When you ask for incentive, what will you do in return? We must not only ask for incentive, we must make pledges,” Ajikaye said.
Responding to government effort in jobs creation, the Director General of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDAN) Alhaji Bature Umar Masari said: “We have developed programme to graduate Micro enterprise to Small and to Medium enterprises.
“Henceforth no beneficiary of our training will be allowed to go to waste. The federal government will make some funds available and that will be matched by Stanbic IBTC which will be provided as seed funds for beneficiaries of our programmes especially the women entrepreneurship programme.”
In a summary report on job creation presented at the event, key initiatives were identified to support job creation. These include; re-orientation of the educational system away from white collar, job seeking curriculum towards an enterprise and vocational curriculum.
Provision of support for firms to upscale employee training activities in addition to the development of job centers to act as clearing houses for firms and job seekers in order to eliminate information asymmetry.
Dr Ebere Uneze, the convener of the dialogue summed the panelist contribution when he remarked that achieving inclusive growth and resolving the unemployment challenge in Nigeria will require new innovative solutions, targeted measures and possibly costly investment.