In 2022, what’s the impact of govt agencies?

DEAR jobless Nigerians, can you believe that the Nigerian government has plans for you? You may find this tough to accept. But right from 1986, the Nigerian government has set up an agency called the National Directorate of Employment with the vision to ensure “Job For All.”This implies that you don’t have to globetrot the entire country with your legmousine and needle-patched shirt in search of a “job.” This agency is here. It is still pretty much alive. And its ultimate responsibility remains to secure a “job for all,” including you.  However, you may not know it because the agency has taken a back seat in Nigerian affairs for some time. Like several others, it has become a spineless agency where significant monies sink without trace. If you know about the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), it is likely because you are ‘conscious politically’ and stay abreast of the country’s happenings. Otherwise, that name does not even pop up among Nigeria’s top 20 job agencies.

From a political and social viewpoint, this doesn’t seem right. Nigerians should not struggle to know an agency like this. Whether we cling the radio to our ears every morning or choose to blare loud music, we should know such agency like the back of our hands. It is set up for helpless men and women across the country who struggled through polytechnic or university. It should be omnipresent on campuses. It should be known in the NYSC camp. And it ought to be a familiar name on the lip of anyone who needs a job. We should find it on our billboards, TV adverts, job campaigns, and other avenues. Now, you might think that is too much to ask of a small agency. But you will die that thought when you realize that the agency was allocated over fourteen billion Naira in Nigeria’s 2020 budget. A thousand and one questions will pop up in your head immediately. We know that the NCDC got less than that during the coronavirus saga.

Yet, the NCDC acquired facilities and scraped the barrel. There are over 20 million non-disabled adults without a job all over the country. A massive number of those who have a job did not even go through this agency.  So, what exactly is NDE doing to attain its vision since 1986? What is happening to all that allocation it gets every year? How come we are still unfamiliar with the NDE? How exactly does the NDE approach its “job for all” vision? You cannot organize a few local empowerment programs and tell us that our fourteen billion is spent. Should the NDE even organise empowerments when so many others are specifically set up for that? Speaking of empowerment programs reminds us of another disappointing government agency, the Small and Medium Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN). SMEDAN is designed to empower young businesses with lifelong business skills. How many small businesses are aware there is a SMEDAN somewhere? Even though SMEDAN has a few courses and programmes online, they do not justify the over a billion that goes into SMEDAN from our national purse.

Like the NDE and SMEDAN, several government agencies are a complete waste of taxpayers’ funds. Nigeria has three space agencies that get billion annually and cannot point out one impact in space. We have a biotech development agency that takes billions every year and has never created a product. We have a nuclear authority we fund in billions, and we have never had a nuclear facility. History will not forget how the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) director, Prof. Pondei, ‘fainted’ when queried by the Senate about misappropriation in 2020. Nigerians deserve to know what is happening off the record. If the impact of these agencies is scarcely felt by anyone, we need to understand why we still pump so many billions into them. The Nigerian government needs to tell us more of what happens behind the scenes. These useless agencies do not exist on a national level only. Osun Job Centre is a state-owned agency unknown to most citizens outside Osun’s capital city. There are several others all around the country.

The NDE, in particular, is an attack on our common sense. Why does our “job” agency take billions, and we are still unemployed unless we hit the trenches and source for jobs ourselves?  Now that we are in 2022, the Nigerian government must begin to understand that Nigerian youths have woken up. They must start to find real fixes before we turn our eyes towards these agencies. Or, do the youth need to rise and shut down the country again before these existing agencies do their jobs?

• Adesokan writes in from Ile-Ife, Osun State

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents

In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state.