Unemployment: The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has revealed why the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been unable to bring down the unemployment rate.
Recall that the unemployment rate in the country rose to 33.3 percent in 2021.
However, in his reaction, Ngige argued that job creation was a responsibility of the private sector, not just the public sector.
The minister also blamed decline in foreign direct investment for growing unemployment.
He said:
“The point there is that job creation is a cross-cutting thing; it is not only for the public sector to do.
“Everybody has it in mind that it is the government that creates jobs: ‘If we don’t work in federal ministry or government agency, we have not got a job.’ No, the private sector is there.”
“It is not something for government alone. And I am telling you now, if the economy is not good, you will not have enough money in the system to ginger the system in such a way that jobs are created. That is the problem; foreign direct investment has gone down,” he added.