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The job creation
committee of the National Economic Management Team (NEMT) yesterday
submitted a framework to facilitate the realisation of an ambitious
target of creating 15 million new jobs in the country in the next five
years.

Chairman of the
Committee, Aliko Dangote, said in line with its specific mandate of
developing an action plan for interventions towards increased job
creation, the committee recommended priority areas in three core
sectors with strong and natural comparative advantage.

But the exercise is
already generating a conflict in responsibility among agencies of
government, as the representative of the Federal Ministry of Labour gave
indication during the ceremony that the ministry would, at the
appropriate time, express its concern over the ‘creation of another
office to do a job already assigned to the Federal Ministry of Labour –
making sure that unemployment is removed in the country.’ The official,
who represented the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chukwuemeka
Wogu, said: ‘I think Labour is well positioned today to drive and
coordinate the activities that would generate employment, whether from
the private or private sector.’ But Mr. Dangote identified the areas the
committee intends to focus its attention on to include agriculture and
agro-allied industries, manufacturing as well as building and
construction, though he also acknowledged the strategic importance of
the micro, small and medium-scale industries.

The framework
submitted yesterday focused on creating the environment that would
support entrepreneurs effort to set up new businesses; provide
opportunities for existing businesses to grow, as well as help mobilize
the informal sectors into the mainstream of the economy to enable them
benefit from government and private sector supports.

The committee
identified the entertainment and sports industries as emerging sectors
where the country has strong and natural advantages, where opportunities
to create jobs are immense, pointing out that as an extremely creative
and competitive nation with abundance of young people, these would be
natural areas of growth and focus.

At the core of the
overhaul, the committee explained, is the need to resuscitate
structured, credible and respected vocational programmes to provide the
skills that would fuel the growth of local industries and improve the
attractiveness of vocational careers.

Wait and see The
committee therefore asked government to appoint a Special Adviser to the
president on Job Creation, who would also be a member of the NEMT as
well as establishment of an Agency for Job creation responsible for
gathering, analyzing and disseminating information on job creation.

“The agency will be a
public-private partnership, but with independent leadership and
thinking to ensure that performance on job creation takes centre stage
in the assessment of the tenures of successive governments,” the
committee said.

Minister of Finance,
Segun Aganga, emphasized the importance of creating jobs for the
people, particularly for the youths who have the highest rate of
unemployment among the age bracket of 15 to 24 years, at 41.6 percent.
He said despite the growth of the economy, projected at 7.7percent this
year, unemployment has continued to outstrip the economic growth.

Though the Minister
was unable to explain how the committee would achieve its mandate
differently than the existing job creation agencies like the National
Directorate for Employment (NDE) and Ministry of Employment of
Productivity, he urged Nigerians to “wait and see” as said government is
determined to ensure its impact is felt as felt as possible.