Lagos boosts employment funds with N10bn

Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday said his administration has spent over N10 billion on the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) to boost employment in the state, in the last three years.

The governor made this disclosure during the Lagos Employment Summit, with the theme: “Sustainable Job Creation Strategies: Collective Action and Prosperity for All,” saying that the state government committed such an amount to ensure more people get access to the fund and to have a 6.7 per cent drop on the unemployment rate.

“We want to see about a 6.7 per cent drop in the unemployment rate. We also want to make Lagos the most impressive job creation centre nationwide.

“We will try and double whatever it is that we are looking at so we want to challenge you with a lot more. We believe you have the capacity because you have demonstrated this in the last four years that given the opportunity, you can double these numbers.

“It is only by scaling those numbers that we can reduce the percentage of unemployment that we are seeing.

“We will give you the grants that you need, we will give the funding that you need to ensure that you can double it up, you can create the eco-space and the ability for you to be able to touch a lot more people quicker, faster and deeper,” Sanwo-Olu said.

The State’s Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr Sam Egube, in his own remark, noted that Lagos State remained the most populous state in Nigeria, with a population growth rate conservatively put at 3.2 per cent per annum driven very heavily by urban migration, saying that the unemployment rate in Lagos was fuelled by urban migration from other states and other nations for opportunities, hope and dreams of a better life.

“A high percentage of the migrants come with only their bags and bodies, unskilled and without a job and many without a proper place to stay.

“It is for this reason and the general state of the national and global economy that the unemployment rate in the state stands at 37.3 per cent, with youth unemployment at about 42.5 per cent.

“Resolving these challenges on a sustainable basis requires deep thinking, collaboration, and consultation with stakeholders to evolve ideas, policies, and initiatives, which when acted upon, should see us through,” he said.

The Board Chairperson, LSETF, Mrs Bola Adesola, said the surge in crime and the resultant insecurity challenges due to the lack of jobs and gainful engagement of the youths, had revealed that collective prosperity as a state and a nation depended on how sustainably jobs could be created.

Adesola said it was also imperative to note that the never-ending duty of job creation required all public and private stakeholders to actively collaborate, design and develop resilient policies and strategies.

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