Friday 13 September 2013

Senator laments worsening Unemployment Rate

LEGISREPORTS NG – One time PDP gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State and chairman of the governing council of Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Senator Musuliu Obanikoro is very sad that despite efforts by the federal government to reduce the queue of unemployment in the country yet it was becoming alarming.

He said that the reality of the nation’s unemployment situation is saddening, dismissing that the unemployment rate which is now above 20 per cent is unacceptable. Senator Obanikoro who was Nigeria’s ambassador to Ghana made this statement in his welcome remark during the 19th Biennial National Training Conference tagged ‘Skills acquisition and job creation: critical factors for national development” held at Tinapa Business Resort Calabar.

He noted that, “The demography of the nation is such that 56% of its population is within the employable age of 15-64 years but that statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) suggest that it rose to 23.9%.” He said that the current unemployment rate portends danger to the country because most of the unemployed are youths of active age.

“The general level of unemployment hides a bigger problem.  The size of youth of active age being unemployed is dangerous”, he said. He therefore suggested that “A forward-looking employment growth strategy needs to focus on improving productivity in the employment-intensive sectors of the economy.

“He said ITF was contributing as much as possible to reducing unemployment in the country through various initiatives that would productively develop the human capacity of the un-engaged Nigerians.

These, he said, include a combination of entrepreneurial training and investment, community service schemes, and graduate internship schemes which have been deployed alongside the continuing training and development activities.He informed that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has been decisive and purposeful in its commitment in meaningfully engaging Nigerians, especially the youth and the university graduates.

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