Business
Economic Management Team Reviews Blueprints for Jobs Creation
As unemployment rate in Nigeria continues to soar to new highs, the Federal Government’s Economic Management Team (EMT), on Monday, met at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on employment initiatives in the country.
Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akade, said in a tweet that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Presided over the meeting, adding that the meeting was to discuss and review efforts being made by the federal government to create jobs and reduce unemployment in the country.
According to him “Vice President Osinbajo now presiding over Economic Management Team meeting discussing and reviewing employment initiatives with presentations from Labour and Employment Minister, SSA Npower/jobs and Statistician-General. It’s about drilling down to create more jobs.”
Attempts to speak with the members of the team who attended the meeting proved abortive as they declined requests to speak with journalists after the meeting.
Read also: Nigeria’s Inflation Drops to Lowest in 25 Months
However, according to figures recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the unemployment rate in Nigeria rose to 18.8% in the third quarter of 2017 from 14.2% recorded in the preceeding quarter, representing about 16 million of the total active labour force of 85.08 million people.
The meeting may not be unconnected to the frightening unemployment statistics which does not suggest creating employment opportunities as promised by the federal government.
The Economic Management Team is made up of Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Information, Alh. Lai Muhammed, Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele and Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Dr. Oluyemi Dipeolu.
Other members of the team are Special Adviser on Economic Matters to the President, and relevant Permanent Secretaries.
The EMT meets weekly to review and discuss issues bothering on economy growth.
By Oluwasegun Olakoyenikan…
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