Sambo, Elumelu: We’ll deliver 3 million jobs in 12 months

At least, three million Nigerians will be employed within the next 12 months, going by the words of Vice-President Namadi Sambo and Mr Tony Elumelu.  Namadi is the Chairman of the Presidential Jobs Board that President Goodluck Jonathan recently constituted to attack the unemployment problem, while Elumelu, chairman of the UBA Group and Heirs Foundation, is his deputy.
Both men, rich in private sector experience, have assured that Nigerians would start feeling a strong impact of the board’s mandate within the next 12 months. Other members of the board include the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF Anyim Pius Anyim; Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison- Madueke; Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga; Labour Minister, Emeka Wogu; Agriculture Minister,  Akinwumi Adesina; Solid Minerals Minister, Musa Sada; Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu and Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau.
Representatives of the private sector on the board include  Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Atedo Peterside, Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman of the Innoson Group; Chief Bisi Onosanya, Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc; Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank Governor and Mr. Ben Petters.
  Sambo told journalists at the end of the board’s inauguration by President Jonathan last Wednesday that it (the board) would be driven by a clear vision and strong mission in its quest to meet its target of creating three jobs for unemployed Nigerians in 12 months.
Elumelu added that various policies put in place by the federal government in its transformation agenda in the power, Information & Communication Technology, housing mortgage and oil & gas sectors are encouraging the committee to achieve its aim. He wasn’t envisaging any difficulty in the board achieving that aim since, he said, Kenya could create over 700,000 jobs within one year.
The President had said he was careful in his constitution of the board to include key members of both the public and private sectors so it can draw on the experiences and expertise of people in both government and private enterprises. The board, he hoped, would facilitate employment generation across Nigeria as mandated.
Jonathan said, “No one can deny that jobs are at the centre of any economic revolution. In fact, the problem facing any head of government all over the world is job creation. They are essential to make our people live well and are critical to the promotion of our people’s dignity. Jobs enhance self-worth and it is a source of personal pride. Indeed, it is at the  heart of national economic and social development.
The president was particularly concerned about backing up training with eventual employment. Saying that most government agencies concentrate more on providing people with training without providing employment at the end of the day, the president contended that it would be sheer waste of funds and time to train many people and none of them is self-employed or employed by any company. The effort, he argued, would actually be counter-productive.
“You are rather frustrating more people and probably increasing the number of criminals in the society. I always say that if you train a young man as a fitter and he has no jobs to do, he will use that skill to break into banks, because you have trained him on how to handle iron and how to handle complicated locks.
 “So if he is not employed, you have created more problems for the society. Instead of training 100 people and none of them will get jobs, train 20 and use the money for the 80 to create employment for these people. It is not just how many people you train but how many people you have given employment through that training programme.
“So if you are training, don’t just come and tell us that you have trained 100 or 1000 people. Tell us how many of them are either self-employed or are gainfully employed. That is the task of this board. Their job is how we will create jobs for the people,” President Jonathan charged.
Speaking on how the Petroleum Ministry has been providing jobs in its own way in the last three years, Mrs. Alison-Madueke said the ministry has been providing many Nigerians with the skills and other requirements they need in securing jobs in the sector which was hitherto controlled by expatriates. “We had brought in the Nigeria content so strongly that at no time in Nigeria’s history have you seen this number of Nigerians across the spectrum of expertise coming into the oil and gas sector. They did not need to be petroleum engineers or even geologists. They only needed to have the abilities to learn and come at different levels to come into the entire spectrum of the downstream service sector of the oil and gas.”
The Petroleum Ministry, she said, has opened up many areas where Nigerians can learn many trades that would secure them employment. With the Jobs Board that President Jonathan has constituted, she enthused, more areas of opportunities will be opened up to Nigerians to benefit from.