Okonjo-Iweala warns Kano businessmen on unemployment

The minister, who was addressing a one-day interactive session on entrepreneurship, organized by the Kano State Entrepreneurship Support Committee, said the crisis of unemployment is now a universal problem that has permeated boundaries of advanced economies.   She disclosed to a gathering that a recent research had shown that the current rate of unemployment in […]

The minister, who was addressing a one-day interactive session on entrepreneurship, organized by the Kano State Entrepreneurship Support Committee, said the crisis of unemployment is now a universal problem that has permeated boundaries of advanced economies.

 

She disclosed to a gathering that a recent research had shown that the current rate of unemployment in the United States of America and France are around 8% and 10% respectively, while Spain is 24%, South Africa 25% and the EU 18%.

She further revealed that countries like Greece, Spain and South Africa are experiencing 50% youth unemployment rate.

According to her, unemployment is the greatest challenge facing the world presently. “The world is experiencing an unprecedented crisis of unemployment. Because of the crisis in the global economy, everybody is facing the problem,” she said.

The minister, however, warned that it will not be in the interest of the country for Nigeria to be complacent about the situation.

“We should not say we are not alone, after all. We should challenge ourselves to do more. It is up to us to move our economy forward to create those jobs,” she said.

She said the Federal Government was striving to provide a conducive environment through stabilizing the exchange rate, keeping inflation down and working on restoring constant power supply for the economy to improve.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala, who had earlier visited a tannery, Mamuda Industries, expressed satisfaction with the number of people employed by the company, which she said was about 4,000, and the quality of its products. She claimed there was enough reason why Nigerians should patronize locally-made goods.

The minister also assured exporters of government’s readiness to continue to support them with the Export Expansion Grant (EGG) so as to further boost their trade.

Earlier, chairman of the Kano State Entrepreneurship Support Committee, Mohammed Yusuf Jamu, identified multiple taxation by various tiers of governments as one of the major factors causing the collapse of new entrepreneurships in the country and called on the Federal Government to look for ways of addressing them.

Also, the Kano State governor, who was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, explained that the state government had established different entrepreneurship schemes and institutes with a view to creating jobs among people in the state.