…As Reps invite President Buhari over killings, banditry***

The Federal Government on Thursday bemoaned the hopeless state of the nation’s socio-economic prospect, noting that one in three Nigerians would be out of employment by 2020.

 The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige stated this while declaring open, a two-day workshop on “Breaking the Resilience of High Unemployment Rate in the Country” in Abuja, grieving that the incessant increase of unemployment in the country was alarming.

He was particularly concerned that the high unemployment rate of 23.1 per cent, and underemployment status of 16.6 per cent by the National Bureau Statistics (NBS) of 2019 report was alarming.

“It is a worrisome status as the global poverty capital (World Bank, 2018); and concomitant high prevalence rate of crimes and criminality, including mass murders, insurgency, militancy, armed robbery, kidnappings and drug abuse, among others.

“As if this situation is not scary enough, it is projected that the unemployment rate for this country will reach 33.5 per cent by 2020, with consequences that are better imagined, if the trend is not urgently reversed.

“It is a thing of joy to note that Nigeria has not been resting on her oars over the years in terms of dedicated efforts to curb the unemployment problem,” he said.

Ngige noted that various government social intervention programmes targeted at reducing youth unemployment and eradicating poverty have been implemented by different administrations since Nigeria gained independence, adding that available records also showed that between 1972 to date, about 14 different programmes have been implemented.

He said that these programmes included the National Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPP), implemented between 1972 and 1973.

He said others were the current National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) which hasn’t been ongoing since 2017, embedded in the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020.

He noted that yet, the unemployment rate and poverty levels are on steady paths of growth, indicating high resilience against the intervention efforts.

The minister wondered why some of the intervention efforts were not yielding expected results.

“What is government and other stakeholders not doing right?

“What changes are needed in the policies, plans and strategies?

Also Read: Otunba Folarin, Dr Ukor evaluate why Osinbajo’s ‘Executive Order’ failed

What action areas need priority attention? What roles should different stakeholders play and what other options are not being exploited?

“Why do we employ expatriates for jobs Nigerians can do or why can’t Nigerians do these jobs? Why do we have deficits in housing, water, sanitation, food, entertainment facilities, health care, and education, among others?

“How do we deploy our population of productive age to fill the skills gaps needed for our national development?

Also Read: Weekend ginger: BUHARI and The Need for One Man!

“How do we break the resilience of high unemployment rate in the country?’’

He said that these are some of the questions that triggered new thoughts and concepts that led to series of activities that preceded the workshop.

Ngige said that the workshop was aimed at presenting the outcome of some of government efforts and the commencement of another phase of the processes.

He, however, called for a collaborative mechanism that would yield desired results while assuring that the recommendations from the workshop would receive prompt and sustained attention.

Mr William Alo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, said the workshop was aimed at examining issues around the persistent high unemployment rate in Nigeria.

Alo said this was with a view to making concrete recommendations on how to tackle the menace.

“This workshop is very important to the Ministry of Labour and Employment due to the direct relevance of the theme to the Ministry’s mandate.

“However, the fact remains that the consequences of high unemployment rate in Nigeria affect each and every one of us as individuals and as members of the Nigerian society.

“The objectives of this workshop are, therefore, to present the findings of the survey on how to break the Resilience of High Unemployment Rate in Nigeria to the peer community.

“To stimulate actions towards exploiting untapped available options for massive job creations; to chart way forward on immediate next steps that would yield measurable results”.

Mr Dennis Zulu, Country Director, International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Nigeria, said that unemployment was a major concern to the organisation, especially in Nigeria.

“So, we believe, therefore, that if Nigeria addresses the issue of unemployment, it will go a long way to address the whole problem that is faced in Africa to that extent.

“Let me say that over the years, we have recognised the commitment of the Federal Government of Nigeria, where it has approved various initiatives including the adoption of Employment Policy of 2017.

“This was approved by the National Executive Council that provides a blueprint for strategies as far as the creation of jobs for Nigerians concerned.

“We have also taken note of the different programmes that have been implemented by the Office of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

“These are the N-Power programme, SURE- P programme some years ago and many other ongoing programmes, ultimately supposed to contribute to the creation of jobs for young people in Nigeria,’’ Zulu said.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives on Thursday invited President Muhammadu Buhari, to address the nation on measures so far taken to tackle rising cases of killings, banditry, armed robbery and kidnappings.

This followed a motion on the urgent “Need for Federal Government’s Intervention on the Ongoing Wanton Killing of Innocent Persons, Destruction of Property, Armed Robbery and Kidnappings by Heavily Armed Bandits Operating within Safana/Batsari/Dansamu Federal Constituency”.

The motion was moved by Rep. Ahmed Dayyabu-Safana (APC-Katsina) at plenary.

Dayyabu-Safana said that some villages within his constituency had been serially attacked with many people killed by armed bandits.

He said that as an immediate step in containing the evil activities of the heavily armed bandits, the president should urgently declare a state of emergency in the federal constituency.

“The recent spate of the said attacks on members of my constituency has reached an alarming stage as the perpetrators of this act continuously kill innocent persons in my constituency.

“They set their homes ablaze while defenceless men and women are abducted to an unknown destination.

“Up to four villages within my constituency are currently under attack in the last 48 hours.

“The villages are Massa in Batasari Local Government Area, where no fewer than five persons have been killed, Alhazawa in Safana LGA has been totally displaced. Guzurawa village in Safana LGA also has several persons murdered in cold blood.

“And just yesterday, Gobirawa Village came under attack with no fewer than 12 dead bodies littered in the bush while many are still missing.

“These killings have continued unabated and these bandits seem to be unstoppable with a specific instance at Gobirawa Village in Safana LGA.

“The bereaved villagers there are forced to abandon the corpses during the burial and scamper  for safety,  when they sighted the bandits coming back to launch another offensive,” he said.

He expressed worry that the bandits, who operated both at night and in broad day light on motorbikes, paraded sophisticated weapons including AK 47 assault rifles.

He added that they paraded other dangerous weapons which they used in committing heinous crimes against his constituents.

The lawmaker said in spite of persistent cries from the affected communities, the security operatives appeared not be proactive, especially on security tips off and most times failed to respond promptly.

“The fundamental duty of any government is the protection and preservation of lives and property by being responsive in the face of this type of cruelty and atrocity committed against its citizen.

“It is the constitutional duty and responsibility of this hallowed chamber to take action whenever these levels of inhuman and brutal attacks are being inflicted on any community or group of people,” he said.

Rep. Bashir Babale (APC-Kano), who said that “Infrastructure has collapsed where banditry takes place”, compared the former administration with the present one.

He said that it was wrong to have accused the erstwhile government of being docile.

Rep. Gabriel Onyenweife (APGA-Anambra) said that “Nigeria is not a safe country. The executive should take the lead and lead Nigeria from a failed security state”.

Similarly, Rep. Chika Adamu (APC-Niger), who spoke with tears, said the government must urgently find solution to the problem.

“We must do something, Mr Speaker, I can’t go to my village and spend a night since the last one year,” he said.

Rep Useni Moriki (APC- Zamfara) said that his own local government was not safe.

“What happened in Yobe, in Borno in the northeast is now happening in northwest, in Zamfara, in my own local government,” he said.

Also Rep. Abiante Awaji-Inombek (PDP-Rivers) said it was different strokes for different people.

“Here we are, convinced that we have a problem on our hand but outside of this place, some will tell you that Nigeria is more secured than before. That tells you that we are not on the same page,” he said.

Mr Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House, said it was necessary to invite the President for an address since the issue of banditry had become national.

The motion was unanimously adopted by members when it was put to a voice vote by the Speaker.

The House, therefore, urged the Federal Government to deploy the military to the areas under attack to assist the police and other security agencies in flushing out the criminal elements operating in the constituency.

It also called for the declaration of state of emergency in the area while urging the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to urgently provide relief materials to the victims of the attacks.