Three Million Jobs to be Created as Jonathan Inaugurates Board Determined to ensure job creation, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday inaugurated Presidential Jobs Board. The board is saddled with the responsibility of creating three million jobs in the next 12 months. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Jonathan said: “Let me charge departments and agencies of government that have been training people over the period, like SMEDAN, ITF, PTDF, NDE, NIMASA, Women Affairs and other agencies that do that as a part of their responsibility, to train young men and women in acquiring different skills. “There is a missing link, because there is a difference between training people to acquire skills and job creation. I have observed over a period that agencies of government are more interested in training. “But my conviction is that if you train 100 people and none of them is either self-employed or employed by any corporation that is a total waste, you are rather frustrating more people and probably increasing the number of criminals in the society. “I always say that if you train a young man as a welder and he has no job, he will use that skill to break into banks, because you have trained him on how to handle iron and how to handle complicated locks. “So if he is not employed, you have created more problems for the society. Instead of training 100 people and none of them will get jobs, train 20 and use the money for the 80 to create employment for these people. It is not just how many people you train but how many people you have given employment through that training programme. “So if you are training don’t just come and tell us that you trained 100 or 1,000 people, but how many of them are either self-employed or are gainfully employed,” the president said. “No one can deny that jobs are at the centre of any economic revolution. In fact, the problem facing any heads of government all over the world is job creation. “They are essential to make our people live well and they are critical to the promotion of our people’s dignity. Jobs enhance self worth and it is a source of personal pride. Indeed job creation is at the heart of national economic and social development. “We have carefully constituted the Jobs Board to include key members of the public and private sector, this is to ensure that the board can draw on the cross expertise of people in government as well as those in private enterprise,” he added. In his remarks, Vice-President Namadi Sambo assured the president that the board would immediately set to work to ensure that the benchmark of three million jobs within the next 12 months is met. Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, who spoke to State House correspondents shortly after the inauguration said the oil and gas sector has made it a priority in the last three years to ensure Nigerians get the tools needed in securing jobs in the sector. “We had brought in the Nigeria content so strongly that at no time in Nigeria’s history have you seen this number of Nigerians across the spectrum of expertise coming into the oil and gas sector. They did not need to be petroleum engineers or even geologists to get jobs. “They only needed to have the abilities to learn and come at different levels to come into the entire spectrum of the downstream service sector of the oil and gas industry. As you all know, it has been a great success and it is now being repeated across other sectors of the economy. “As we concentrate on working in gas development to ensure it is working in tandem with the power sector, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as well as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), we should be able to power our IPPs (independent power plants) over the next 18 months, and we will change the face of the economy in its entirety. “We are also simultaneously looking to ensure that Nigeria has gas for industrialisation and that we bring in the petrochemical plants that you are hearing about and methanol plants that will begin to move aggressively into the LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas). You can imagine the number of jobs just the LPG will create,” Alison-Madueke said. She added that the pilot project had been very successful by changing taxis from running on fuel to gas-powered automobiles which are much cheaper to run than petrol-powered cars. “There are so many areas where Nigerians can come in to learn the tools of the trade and get employment. Of course, PTDF has been training people for many years in welding. “So I think there are hosts of opportunities for Nigerians with the array of expertise Mr. President has put together here,” she said. Also speaking, Chairman of United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), Mr. Tony Elumelu, said members of the private sector had been encouraged to be part of the board because of the transformation initiatives of the federal government. “We are happy that we have the Minister of Petroleum Resources here among us who has played a strong role in the transformation from the point of view of indigenisation by bringing in Nigerian players in the oil and gas sector. “The committee was also charged by President Jonathan to ensure that it trains people for employability, which we intend to achieve,” he said. The Presidential Jobs Board consists of Sambo as its chairman, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim; Alison-Madueke; Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga; Minister of Labour, Mr. Emeka Wogu; Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina; Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr. Musa Sada; Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu; Minister of Education, Mr. Ibrahim Shekarau; and CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, among other ministers, as members. Others include representatives of the private sector, comprising Elumelu, President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Chairman Stanbic IBTC Plc, Mr. Atedo Peterside; Chairman of Innoson Group, Mr. Innocent Chukwuma; Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Bisi Onasanya; and Chairman/CEO of Aiteo Oil and Gas, Mr. Benny Peters, among others
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 08:16:00 +0000
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