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The federal
government has proposed a number of incentives for employers of labour
to give them the impetus to create more employment opportunities for
the large army of unemployed Nigerians.

Segun Aganga, the
minister of finance, said in Abuja that the incentives, which are part
of the responsibility of government to create the enabling environment
for the private sector to create jobs, include improving the fiscal
environment that would allow employers to invest in job creation and
human resource development.

Some of the
proposals include a legal framework for establishing an Incentive to
Create Employment (ICE) Act, to provide Personal Income Tax (PIT)
exemptions or Employer Tax Credits (ETC) to employers that employ the
services of new graduates and unemployed individuals.

Others proposals
include a New Employment Tax (NET) Relief, Work Opportunity Credit
(WOC), Rural Employers Tax (RET) Relief or Work Experience Acquisition
Programme (WEAP) Relief to help provide tax deductions under company
income tax allowance (CITA) for companies that take on new employees;
provision of additional tax concession to cover donations to certain
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or public institutions involved
in activities such as rural development or youth empowerment.

Mr. Aganga said the
federal government’s concern about the growing challenge of
unemployment in the country, particularly among the youth, motivated it
late last year to direct the National Economic Management Team (NEMT)
to come up with a strategy for addressing the problem.

Private-sector led job creation

A NEMT committee,
led by businessman, Aliko Dangote, to prepare a private sector-led job
creation action plan for the country has since submitted its report to
government, with a recommendation for a new National Jobs Creation
Scheme with initial seed funding of N50 billion to create thousands of
jobs in the country’surban and rural communities.

“This scheme
comprises multi-faceted interventions including a Public Works
Programme across the country that will engage private sector
contractors in implementing simple, labour-intensive public works. A
local employment content requirement for all procurement contracts
submitted by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to the Federal
Executive Council for approval as well as introduction of an industrial
trade-off programme,” the minister said.

This arrangement,
he pointed out, is beside government’s previous efforts to assist small
businesses to access longer term, single digit funds through a $500
million loans programme for Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) already
initiated through the Bank of Industry (BoI).

“In our bid to
build an inclusive society, government intends to measure economic
growth not just in terms of output or Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but
also in terms of the level of job creation in the country,” he said.

The Anya O.
Anya-led expenditure review committee inaugurated in September to work
and recommend practical measures to rationalise recurrent expenditure
in the budget, Mr. Aganga said, has since submitted its initial
findings, though the deadline for the completion of its assignment was
extended to the end of the first quarter of this year.

“The quick wins
identified by the committee, composed of eminent public and private
sector professionals, have been reflected in this year’s budget, and
government intends to implement the major recommendations upon
submission of the report at the end of its assignment,” Mr. Aganga said.