The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ms Kachollom Daju, has said that the efforts made by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to reduce poverty and cut down the high rate of unemployment in the country are real.
Ms Daju also hinted that as part of the effort, the Federal Ministry of Labour is constructing job centres across the states of the federation. She said that the job centres would not only be established in the city centre but across the 774 Local Government Areas in the country.
The Permanent Secretary stated this when she played host to the members of Labour Correspondents Association of Nigeria (LACAN) in Abuja.
While she praised journalists for their work and efforts to hold the government accountable and bring to the knowledge of Nigerians the work the government is doing, she pleaded that news reports should be objective and devoid of false information.
She said, “The Federal Government’s policy to move 100 million Nigerians out of poverty is real. With the new National Development Plan 2021 to 2025, the government’s determination to achieve results is being matched with action and I am sure you are aware that there are many thematic areas. It is not just the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, it is multi-sectoral and different sectors will come together to ensure that this is achieved.
“It is not just the Federal Government. The private sector is supposed to play a huge role because we cannot all be dependent on the government. The private sector has its own role to play. That is why in the Federal Government development plan, a huge percentage of what it takes to ensure that employment, infrastructure are provided will be carried out by the private sector. The private sector is going to play a huge role in achieving this.
“So we will work together and for the Ministry of Labour, we have different agencies and departments that have to do with employment skills. Recently, the Labour Market Information System, which we are bringing out for the citizens to know, is to ensure that data is collected.
“Alongside that, we are actually going to improve on job matching, the Nigerian Electronic Labour Exchange has been on but now we are going to improve on it to match job seekers with the job. It has been going on but apparently many Nigerians are not aware of that, so the Ministry is upgrading and actually constructing more job centres across the nation.
“We have around 16 now and we are going to ensure that the 36 states, Abuja and the 774 LGAs all have job centres.”
And not only in the cities centres but also in the 744 Local Government Areas and we have started that in the 2022 budget. We want more job centres created in the 744 Local Government Areas and the states. That is how the government equally wants to help.
“Yes, I would say government policy to reduce poverty by 2030 is real, to cut down youth unemployment is real. The statistics can speak for themselves and this actually is multi sector and it cuts across all MDAs. So, what The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment is doing, what Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports and Development, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture are there.”
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