Despite the economic challenges the nation is currently facing, Nigeria’s trajectory is upward with the level of patriotic planning that is taking place and all the available ideas that are being implemented.
Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo defined this positive outlook earlier Wednesday while receiving an implementation plan on job creation and youth employment in Nigeria jointly packaged by the Job creation Unit of the Presidency, and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG.
“We are in a situation now when the only way is up,” Prof. Osinbajo declared while thanking the NESG “for working so hard on this project.”
As laid out in the plan, Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan for Job Creation & Youth Employment in Nigeria, more than 3 million jobs would be created in the country within three years starting in 2016 especially in Technology, Wholesale & Retail, Construction and Agro-allied sectors of the Nigerian economy. This year alone the plan foresees the creation of over 700,000 private sector jobs, majority of which are expected in the Agro-allied sector.
This private sector-led job creation plan is different from the direct creation of government jobs planned by the Buhari presidency including 500,000 teaching jobs for unemployed graduates.
While expressing excitement and hope regarding the plan, the Vice President recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had set job creation as the central focus of government policy when he instructed that policy planning must address the question, “how many jobs would the policy create?
Even though job creation might be “painfully slow,” Prof Osinbajo assured Nigerians that the Buhari presidency is addressing the constraints that businesses face including regulatory and institutional delays. He noted that government and the private sector only need to work together and get it right this time.
According to him, “I am extremely excited at all that is available. We really have everything we need, we just need to get it right,” indicating the role of effective implementation of the job creation plan.
The Job Creation Unit in the presidency initiated the job creation plan and the NESG as private sector players validated it through a joint committee, and would be working together with government in the implementation process.
Speaking earlier at the meeting, the chairman of the NESG, Mr. Kyari A. Bukar noted that “NESG is honored to be part of the Committee, and we commit to collaborate with the JCU whilst leveraging our vast private sector network to collectively solve the unemployment challenges Nigeria faces.”
He added that the NESG “have had the opportunity to review the Strategic Framework & Implementation Plan for Job Creation developed by the JCU, with the support of Dahlberg, and understand the urgency in addressing unemployment in Nigeria,” and urged the federal government to address the sectorial constraints of job creation particularly in the four selected sectors of Technology, Wholesale & Retail, Construction and Agro-allied businesses.
