NECA anniversary: As FG targets 15m new jobs for Nigerians

NECA anniversary: As FG targets 15m new jobs for Nigerians

authorityngr.com

Jul 21, 2017 1:00 PM

The recent concluded 2016 Annual General Meet­ing (AGM) and 60th Anniversary Celebration of the Nigeria Employers’ Consulta­tive Association (NECA), held in Lagos, remarkable brought a good news to Nigeria’s teem­ing unemployed youth, as the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, at the occasion declared that it’s Eco­nomic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) which will lead to creation of 15 million new jobs by 2020; and reduction in un­employment rate from 13.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2016 to 11.23 per cent by 2020.

The Federal Government also made it known that Nigeria would finally end importation of refined petroleum and begin exportation of the product in the next three years, adding that the the country will at least generate 10 Mega Watts of operational electricity capacity by 2020; and achieve self-sufficiency in rice production in 2018 and wheat in 2020.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, whose keynote address at the event, was on the ERGP, went on to say that the current dispensa­tion of high interest rate and fix exchange rate “is clearly nega­tive to growth and development of Nigeria.”

Giving the targets of the ERGP, the minister said ERGP was designed to achieve Average Real GDP growth of 4.6 per cent over the plan period, with 7 per cent Growth Rate by the year 2020. He added that the plan would also achieve a manufac­turing sector average growth of 8.5 per cent, peaking at 10.6 per cent by 2020; with agricultural sector average growth of 6.9 per cent over the plan period.

Explaining further, the minis­ter, interestingly, said ERGP will lead to creation of 15 million new jobs by 2020; and reduction in unemployment rate from 13.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2016 to 11.23per cent by 2020

“There will be 60 per cent re­duction in imports of refined petroleum products by 2018 and net export of refined crude by the year 2020,” he added.

While acknowledging the various inputs received from NECA members during the de­velopment of the ERGP, the said the success of the plan depends on the responsiveness of the private sector to the initiatives being rolled out by government under the Plan.

His words: “As stated in the executive summary of the Plan, the role of government in the 21st century must evolve from that of being an omnibus pro­vider of citizen’s needs into a force for eliminating the bottle­necks that impede innovation and market based solutions.

“Another way of putting it is that our role as Government is to create the environment for the private sector to invest and create wealth and jobs so that the country can prosper.”

He also pointed out that the “Plan is driven by five principles which support this fundamental focus; which include remov­ing the constraints to growth, particularly supply constraints in fuel, power and foreign ex­change and to allow the market to function to drive optimal be­haviour amongst market partici­pants.

“The third is to leverage the power of the private sector by harnessing the dynamism of business and entrepreneur­ial nature of Nigerians, from MSMEs to the large domestic and multinational corporations.

“It also involves promoting and strengthening national co­hesion and social inclusion; and upholding our core values of discipline, integrity, dignity of labour, social justice, religious tolerance, self-reliance and pa­triotism.”

He onward said the three broad objectives of the plan is restoring growth, investing in the Nigerian people to improve their living standards, and build­ing an economy that is globally competitive.

To achieve these objectives; he said the plan outlines five key execution priorities which are to “stabilise the macroeconomic environment; invest in agricul­ture to achieve food security; tackle the country’s protracted energy problem to achieve self-sufficiency in power and petroleum products; improve transportation infrastructure throughout the country and ac­celerate the pace of the country’s the products it consumes; from a nation that relies on a single commodity for survival to one that runs on multiple engines of growth, such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction, solid minerals and services.

“Our aim is to change Nigeria from a nation of consumers to a nation of producers. As Mr. President has said, the ERGP is this Administration’s blueprint aimed at building a new Nige­ria where we grow what we eat, consume what we make and produce what we use.”

As expected, the President of NECA, Mr. Larry Ettah, com­mended the government for the National Economic Recov­ery and Growth Plan and said if credibly implemented, it will resolve the problem of policy clarity and should also support better economic outcomes.

Explaining the current busi­ness and economic challenges in the country, the NECA presi­dent said the current high in­terest rate is negative to growth and development.

Ettah said: “Our concern here is not so much the justification for the current high cost of fund but the need for managers of our economy to appreciate that high interest is antithetical to growth and, therefore, the need for concerted and co-ordinated efforts by government backed by sound fiscal and monetary policies to bring it down to sin­gle digit.

“Beyond the fact that the gov­ernment has crowded out the private sectors in terms of ac­cess to credit, as it seeks funds to cover budgetary deficit, and current situation engendered a rent seeking economy that’s has discouraged entrepreneurship and wealth creation, with grave implications for job creation.”

He pointed out that the cur­rent fixed exchange rates does not augur well for right pricing and effective means of resource allocation. And said though it seems to have provided some reprieve lately to the value of Naira, “it is very doubtful if this is sustainable in the long time.” Even as he pointed out that the latest unemployment data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which revealed that 12 million Nigerians, is worrisome even as conservative as the fig­ure is.