Why govt is unable to create new jobs, by minister
From Olayinka Collins, Abuja
BARELY six days to the hand-over date, the failure of the Federal Government to create seven million jobs in the last eight years as promised has been attributed to the on-going reform in the public service and slow progress in the power sector reform, among other factors.

Speaking with reporters at his valedictory press briefing yesterday in Abuja, Minister of Labour, Hassan Lawal, said the task of providing jobs was beyond the exclusive jurisdiction of government alone, extending to the private sector. He added that the ministry is currently partnering with private and social partners with a view to expanding job opportunities.

He said: "We have taken steps to annex new and emerging job opportunities within Nigeria's reforming environment. Although all these strategies have been put in place, the job generation target of NEEDS has not been feasible due to several sectoral problems.

"Among these are the on-going public sector reforms, slow progress in the power sector reforms, social and environmental factors, and growing political dis-equilibrium in certain parts of the country. We are collaborating with states and local governments to facilitate the creation of a sizeable number of jobs annually."

In order to make available jobs count, Lawal stated that steps had been taken to extend the frontiers of skills acquisition centres, improve trade testing units and building a more synergistic relationship with National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and other agencies set up to address poverty-related issues.

He added that the National Electronic Labour Exchange was not only designed to provide employment information but to checkmate unfair labour practices such as casualisation and contract employment.

Lawal has also called on Labour movement and civil society groups hell-bent on observing a sit-at-home on May 28 and 29 to shelve the idea and instead explore the judicial alternative.

The labour minister also tasked federal workers to be patient and accept the April take-off date for the 15 per cent salary increment.

Meanwhile, government and workers' representatives are due to meet today to try and reach a common position on the vexed issue of the upward pay adjustment.

But in a reaction, spokesman of the Joint Negotiation Council, Fidelis Edeh, who is also the National President of the Nigerian Civil Service Union (NCSU), told The Guardian yesterday that the workers would insist on January as take-off date for the 15 per cent pay rise.
www.ngrguardiannews.com

That is a succinct and polite excuse of the failures of the OBJ anomie of a government in guaranteeing the future
of its youths

The Government itself cannot create jobs,it can only lay the groundwork for the private secor to create jobs

The Government itself cannot create jobs,it can only lay the groundwork for the private secor to create jobs

Yea!HAS SHE DONE THAT?

Lamba upon lamba