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OGUN : TOWARDS SOLVING UNEMPLOYMENT THROUGH INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES
OGUN : TOWARDS SOLVING UNEMPLOYMENT THROUGH INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES
By: Elijah Udofia
Governments, just like an individual or organizations, are faced with one challenge or the other and the methods of dealing with such challenges differs. Unemployment is one of the many challenges confronting even the most advanced economy of the world . In other words, unemployment is a phenomenon that affect all countries including the first world or advanced economies. No wonder Jane Addams, a Social Worker and a Reformer, said “of all aspects of social misery nothing is so heart breaking as unemployment”.
Nigeria, just like other third world countries has been battling with the problem of unemployment , especially since the post independence era, more than six decades ago. It is worthy of note that successive administrations both at the Federal and State levels have come up with various schemes aimed at finding solution to the problem.
During the military era of the the then General Ibrahim Babangida, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) was introduced in 1986 and the agency was saddled with the responsibility of designing and expanding the opportunities and rights of Nigerians in all the states of the federation. It was meant to promote job creation, stimulate entrepreneurship and the skills of representatives of various industries. In a nutshell, NDE was established to solve Nigeria’s unemployment challenge.
Under democratic dispensation, President Good luck Jonathan came up with his own Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme SURE-P. Under this Programme was the Community Services Women and Youth Employment (CSWYE). The scheme was set up to provide temporary employment opportunities to the unemployed and unskilled women and youth.
President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016, also set up the N-Power under the National Social Intervention Programme. The scheme with the theme “Empowering the Youths for Prosperity” is to tackle the issue of joblessness among youth as well as improve social development of young people in Nigeria.
Nigeria no doubt is one of the fastest growing economy in Africa or what is known as ” lion economy”. But unlike countries like Qatar, Cambodia or our neighbour Niger, with low unemployment rate, that of Nigeria, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report, “Nigeria’s unemployment rate rised from 27.1 percent in the second quarter of 2020 to 33 percent in 2022”. This is an indication that rather than reducing, the rate is assuming an alarming rate.
Being a component part of Nigeria, Ogun State also share from the many challenges confronting the country including unemployment. Apart from being the Industrial hub and the religious capital of the nation, the State, is the education capital of the country with the highest number of post primary and higher institutions in Nigeria. These institutions on regular basis, turn out graduates into the already saturated unemployment market. Given this consideration, the State has a large number of graduates who are not gainfully engaged .
As the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, Sharan Burrow, once said, “no country can afford to lose a generation to unemployment”, the Prince Dapo Abiodun led-government in Ogun State having realized that there is a relationship between unemployment and crime, made youth employment and empowerment one of its cardinal programmes as encapsulated in the ISEYA mantra viz: Infrastructure, Social welfare and wellbeing, Education, Youth Employment and Empowerment and Agriculture.
The Governor who is an ardent believer in the sayings that “an idle hand is the devil’s workshop ” came up with life transforming programmes that would translate into building a virile future not only for graduates but also for various job seekers in other spheres of human endeavor. At the inception of his administration, one of the steps taken was the opening of a job Portal where graduates and non graduates who are skilled in various trades register. The purpose of the programme, according to the Governor, was to ascertain the number of those who are jobless as well as those who are underemployed with a view to matching the qualified ones with the employers of labour as well as exposing them to the various investors besieging the State. With this approach, thousands of employment opportunities have been secured for teeming youths.
This aside, the State government also set up an Artisans Scheme, where people are trained in various skill acquisitions like tailoring, barbing, hair dressing, painting and paint making, among others. The interesting part of this scheme is that participants are paid stipends on monthly basis.
Similarly, the decision of the State government to convert one of the moribund model schools that dot the State’s landscape, to a TechHuB, was to make available a platform for Information Technology (IT) for the youths to showcase their talents .The hub also offer training opportunity to those who want to be well grounded on IT. The Centre has in the last few years trained hundreds of youths who are now employed in blue chip or multinational companies across the country.
The TechHuB, is one of the many plans government is putting in place to turn Ogun State to what the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Ibrahim Pantami said would be “Nigeria’s Silicon Valley” in the near future.
Another area which Ogun State has explored in generating employment to its teeming able bodied men and women is the education sector. Barely a year ago, a scheme tagged “Ogunteach” was introduced and the method was to engage qualified interns for a period of two years as class teachers in public primary and secondary schools. At the end of their internship, those who excel are absorbed into the system. Though It was meant to fill the existing teaching gap in the public schools, it is also a platform for “young teachers” to be well groomed in the chalk profession.
On how his administration came about the scheme, governor Abiodun said “sometimes around September last year, the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, came to me with this brilliant idea. I immediately keyed into it and told him that it must be devoid of favouritism and that only the best should be encouraged”.
As at now, the scheme as so far provided employment to 2000 of the interns while additional 1,000 to 1,500 would be employed, according to the Governor.
It is pertinent to State that the employment scheme is multi- dimensional and exists in other sectors . For instance, in the agricultural sector, apart from the Federal Government’s Anchor Borrower’s Programme, which the State government has successfully keyed into, another scheme for would-be graduate agric- prenuers, known as FADAMA GUYS was also birthed with a view to widen the scope of engagement thereby boost food production. All these schemes are also geared towards solving the problem of unemployment especially in the agriculture sector.
Perhaps, the man at the helms of affairs in Ogun State, in the course of putting ideas together on how to bring the rate of unemployment to the barest minimum, must have come across the words of the former German Chancellor Gehard Schroeder who said, “any degree of unemployment worries me”. This has led to the interventions that are currently being used to address unemployment in the State.
From available data, Ogun State is definitely not the State with the highest rate of unemployment despite the fact that it is the education capital of the nation. With unemployment rate in the country projected to trend around 53 percent in 2022 and 51percent in 2023, according to Trading Economic, the current interventions, there seems to be no end in sight, but what is sure is that the various interventions by Ogun State government would go a long way in reducing unemployment to the barest in the coming years.
IGBO HEROES FOUNDATION’S NATIONAL COORDINATOR, PRINCE CHINEDU NSOFOR, CALLS ON PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU TO RELEASE NNAMDI KANU AS DEMOCRACY DAY GIFT TO NDIGBO
BY JOSEPH MONDAY
As Nigeria celebrates yet another Democracy Day, we at the Igbo Heroes Foundation reflect on the journey so far with deep concern and patriotic hope. “Democracy, by its very definition, thrives on the principles of freedom, justice, equity, and the rule of law,” said Prince Chinedu Nsofor(KPAKPANDO NDIGBO), National Coordinator of the Igbo Heroes Foundation. “It is a system built on the voice of the people and the protection of their rights. As Nigerians across the federation mark this important day, we must remind ourselves of the ideals we claim to uphold. True democracy must be inclusive and must respond to the cries of the marginalized and the silenced.”
In this light, Nsofor called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Federal Government of Nigeria to use this year’s Democracy Day as an opportunity to demonstrate true statesmanship and national healing by releasing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). “The best gift the Federal Government can give to the Igbo nation on this Democracy Day is the unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu,” Nsofor said. “His prolonged detention, despite various legal pronouncements in his favor, continues to hurt the soul of the Igbo people and stain the fabric of our national unity.”
Nsofor further noted that it is worth recalling that the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in its 2022 opinion, called for the immediate and unconditional release of Mazi Kanu and compensation for his arbitrary detention. “Furthermore, the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, in October 2022, discharged and acquitted him of all charges, citing that his extraordinary rendition from Kenya was unlawful and in violation of international law,” he added. “These rulings should not be ignored in a country that claims to respect the rule of law. Democracy without respect for judicial decisions is no democracy at all.”
“We urge the Federal Government to heed these calls and take bold, reconciliatory steps that foster unity, peace, and healing,” Nsofor concluded. “The release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will not only pacify the aggrieved hearts in the Southeast but also send a strong message to all Nigerians and the international community that this government values justice, equity, and the sanctity of the democratic process. As we mark Democracy Day, may our leaders choose peace over pride, justice over oppression, and unity over
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Oshodi Local Government: When Leadership was Fused Humanity
According to Steve Job, one of the founders of the Apple franchise “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”. This simply means the number of lives touched positively by your decision will eventually be the yardstick with which you are rated. What this means is that it will be right to address the current Chairman of Oshodi Local government, Otunba Kehinde Almaroof Oloyede popularly known as Kendu as an exemplary leader to the people just because he gave leadership a human face.
Coming at period many sees Local Government administration as only salary paying and at rare times drainage clearing arm of government, Otunba Oloyede has given his people a reason to to see the importance of the third tier of government unlike it used to be with the many people friendly projects his government has executed and is still executing in his just first four (4) years, thereby increasing their expectations for his next four years.
Kendu as the Chairman of Oshodi Local government is fondly called has shone brightly and his imposing track record in human development projects and empowerment across the local government and has attracted applause from the people and hatred from few who are used to the old way of administration.
Hon Oloyede’s innovative project to improve the lives of the people and alleviate the hardship in his community through the establishment of a monthly stipend driven scheme called the non-pensionable salary for aged, widows, vulnerable and some people tagged the decent boys (these are young men who could not learn any craft early in life and needs to be encouraged while being exposed to learning a craft to keep employed).
Findings revealed that Kendu led government has at ever time more than six hundred (600), of such people being paid monthly from this laudable non-pensionable scheme, a situation which has also increased the numbers of skilled workforce of Oshodi and reduced the population of miscreants in the community.
It was also revealed that Hon Oloyede’s government has also been partnering with the market women association (being a child of a market leader himself), to give grants to support the business of many who are having one financial issues or the other.
It is therefore not a surprise when the people of Oshodi who have seen the effort of the Chairman at meeting them at their lowest and compliment them when needed, to rally support for their working son with the love of humanity and support him for another term to the chagrin of the very few who are employing various unsavoury means to splash mud on his shinny garment, through lies peddling.
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