The federal government has created millions of jobs
through its various programmes cutting across many
sectors, the minister of information and culture, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, has said. Speaking at the 6th Graduation Ceremony of the
Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI), founded by
former Rivers state first lady Dame Judith Amaechi, in
Port Harcourt on Saturday, February 3, the minister
said over 7 million jobs have been created in the
agriculture sector alone. His words: “In agriculture, for example, this
administration has created over 7 million jobs. When
the administration assumed office in May 2015, about
5 million farmers were engaged in rice production.
Thanks to the administration's Anchor Borrowers
Programme, the number of farmers engaged in rice production today stands at 12.2 million. These are
verifiable facts, not fiction.”
He said 69,736 jobs have been created in the power,
works and housing sector, while the administration's
National Social Investment Programmes have
created at least 200,000 jobs, in addition to
empowering 500,000 others under the Government
Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP). “The federal ministry of power, works and housing
has created 69,736 jobs (direct and indirect) across
the country. The power sector projects created 1,740
jobs, the works sector created 38,391 jobs, while the
Housing Sector created 29,605 jobs," he said. The minister also said the Home-Grown School
Feeding Programme, through which 6.4 million school
children in 33,981 schools across 20 states are being
fed with one meal a day, has created jobs for 61,352
cooks. He commended Dame Amaechi for establishing the
ESI programme, which is an entrepreneurial and
skills acquisition programme for youths and women
of the Niger Delta, saying such programmes
complement the Federal Government's efforts to
provide jobs for the citizens. “National development is not just the duty of the
government, but that of the citizens. In other words,
all of us, as citizens, have a role to play in ensuring
the development of our nation. This has bee amply
demonstrated by Dame Judith Amaechi in setting up
this Empowerment Support Initiative,” the minister said. He charged the graduands to make the best use of
the opportunities that the ESI programme has given
them, saying that is the best way they can justify the
efforts of the ESI founder. Similarly, Nigeria’s minister of transportation,
Rotimi Amaechi, has said that the government is doing everything possible to reverse the unemployment rate in the country. The minister made the comment when a delegation
from Dudley College of Technology, United Kingdom in
partnership with the Empowerment Support Initiative
(ESI) paid him a courtesy visit at his residence in
Abuja.
His words: “The government of Nigeria is doing
everything possible to eradicate unemployment, we
are creating jobs and engaging the youth at various
levels of skills acquisition. We have improved on our
railway transportation and you can imagine the
number of youth that have been engaged in the project, same thing in other sectors.”