•Says threat of protest by NLC over naira scarcity resolved
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has lamented the spike in unemployment in the country as a result of recessions suffered in 2015 and 2020.
He stated this at the resumed weekly Ministerial Briefing, organised by the Presidential Communication Team at the State House, Abuja, yesterday.
The minister who announced that unemployment has more than quadrupled since 2015 called for concerted efforts by stakeholders to stem the impact on the economy and citizens.
“The triple issues of unemployment, poverty and economic disempowerment have remained a disturbing feature of the Nigerian life. Unemployment rate in the country has more than quadrupled since the economy slipped into recession, first in 2015 and later in 2020. The unemployment rate in Nigeria rose to 9.9% in 2015 as the current administration came on board. In the context of ILO definition of unemployment, there is need to make concerted efforts towards stemming down the negative impact of unemployment on the economy and the active population of the country. It is in the light of the foregoing that the Federal Government recently inaugurated a Technical Working Group (TWG) on Youth Employment and Skills Development to handle the increasing youth unemployment and skills development in the country,” he said.
On efforts to tackle unemployment and create jobs, Ngige said the incoming administration should consider the blueprint by Job Creation Office, under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
He said his ministry has 125 Skills Development Centres in the six geo-political zones, apart from the 19 Job Centres in Bauchi, Kaduna, Lagos, Abuja, Edo, and Enugu, among others where people receive training on bricklaying.
Ngige also disclosed that his ministry was collaborating with United States Labour Department to stop child labour, saying “they make available $75 million to fight poverty in cocoa and minerals producing areas in Nigeria”.
Meanwhile, the minister has assured that the threat of protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) against the Central Bank of Nigeria, over naira scarcity, has been arrested.
The NLC had issues a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to get the CBN and commercial banks to end the cash scarcity in the country or face a nationwide protest and picketing of all the apex bank’s branches.
Ngige said through dialogues, coordinated by his ministry, the CBN had taken steps to remedy the situation.
Ngige, who was accompanied by Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, and other senior officials of the Ministry, said as at the moment, the issue to be discussed by NLC in their National Executive Council meeting would no longer be issues of protest as that had been arrested.
“By Section 7:8 of Trade Dispute Act, once the Minister apprehends and starts conciliation on it, you maintain status quo ante bellum. So they have gone back now to review the situation. If they’re not satisfied with what they are seeing, they will come back to me and I’ll invite the CBN again. But for now, the issue of discussion is no longer the strike, the issue of discussion is implementation and how far it’s gone and how far it affects Nigerian workers and the general population. So that is it, the final decision will be done today by NEC and they will then do a resolution, of course, inform me and CBN what their resolution is. But like I said, we have apprehended and we are now conciliating.”
On the issue of pay rise for the Nigerian workers, Ngige said it was being addressed and that the issue now was the quantum of money for the pay raise.
He also said the amount to be paid would be based on the availability of funds and the ability to pay.
On migration of Nigerian professionals to other countries, he said nobody would stop migration.
Keyamo, on his part said 760,000 persons eventually benefited from the 774,000 special public works scheme, adding N400 million was refunded after the implementation of the programme.