WORLD Bank on Thursday said for Nigeria to attain total economic recovery, she needs to create 40 million jobs for the teeming unemployment youths before 2030.
Country Manager, International Finance Corporation, Eme Essien Lore, a member of the bank said this at the inaugural meeting of Secretaries to Governments of All Progressives Congress (APC) states held in Lagos.
The World Bank official, while lamenting that there is a growing number of unemployed Nigerian youths, than any other African country, said government and the private sectors had a critical role to play in the creation of the job.
“When we look at the need for job creation, what we checked was the number of young people entering the workforce annually. And when we examined the number and looked at Nigeria’s population today, we realized that Nigeria is a very young country.
“Nigeria is adding many more young people to the job market than any other African country. And the reason is because of the huge youth population in the country.
“Due to that, we discovered that there was high number of people seeking for job. This is reflection of the country’s population growth. Nigeria’s population is growing fast and in it is estimated to have the third largest population behind India and China,” she said.
Lore said in due to the statistics available, Nigeria will in few years’ time need to create huge number of jobs to correspond with the rising population.
“The huge number of job needed between 2010 and 2030 will be for 40 million jobs within this time,” she declared, charging the Federal Government to provide enabling environment for the private sector, which she said had critical role to play in job creation exercise.
“By this, government must streamline their operations and provide necessary enabling supports for the job creation to be realisable,” she said.
Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, while addressing the forum, charged them to be fully committed to the visions of their respective state governments.
The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Mrs Idiat Adebule, said they should do this by providing accountable, responsible and responsive leadership.
Ambode said in spite of the dire financial and logistical straits confronting states as a result of the declining growth in the national economy, APC governments must devise ingenious ways and means of meeting the expectations of the people.
“For us at the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), this is not a moment for self-adulation, but that of a vital self-examination and stock taking. Our desire to promote synergy and experience sharing as basis for the adoption and uniform implementation of policy initiatives across all APC states makes it necessary for us to frequently expose our thoughts, strategies and actions to the honest scrutiny of our colleagues,” he said.
Earlier the Director General, of APC Governors Forum, Mr Saliu Lukman, said the meeting was to share ideas and rob minds on how to effectively ensure good governance in all APC states.
According to him, “APC governments have adopted three policies- social, education and health- which will be implemented in their respective states.
Also the Secretary to the Lagos State Government, Mr Tunji Bello, said it was important to meet and share ideas and examine policies to see what had been done and how others could benefit from same gesture.