Jonathan inaugurates Presidential Jobs Board

By Lawrence Olaoye

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday inaugurated the Presidential Jobs Creation Board chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. Anytime Pius Anyim, its Secretary.

Jonathan also charged all government ministries, departments and Agencies (MDAs) not to be contented with training personnels but to ensure that those so trained are not only employable but are employed.

The President said “No one can deny that jobs are at the centre for economic revolution. In fact the problem facing any head of government all over the world is job creation. They are essential to make our people live well and they are critical to the promotion of our people’s dignity. Jobs enhance self worth and it is a source of personal pride. Indeed it is at the heart of national economic and social development.

We have carefully constituted the job board to include key members of the public and private sector, this is to ensure that the Board can draw on the cross expertise of people in government as well as those in private enterprise.”

On the employability of trained youths, Jonathan said “Let me charge department and agencies of government that have been training people over the period, like SMEDAN, ITF, PDTF, NDE, NIMASA, Women Affairs and other agencies that do that as a part of thier responsibilities, to train.

“There is a missing link, because there is a difference between training people to acquire skills and job creation. I have observed over a period that agencies of government are more interested in training. My conviction is that if you train 100 people and none of them is either self employed or employed by any Corporation, that is a total waste.

“You are rather frustrating more people and probably increasing the number of criminals in the society. I always say that if you train a young man as a fitter and he has no jobs to do, he will use that skill to break into banks, because you have trained him on how to handle iron and how to handle complicated locks.

“So, if he is not employed, you have created more problem for the society. Instead of training 100 people and none of hem will get jobs, train 20 and use the money for the 80 to create employment for these people. It is not just how many people you train but how many people you have given employment through that training programme.

So, if you are training don’t just come and tell us that you trained 100 or 1000 people, but how many of them are either self employed or are gainfully employed. That is the task of this board their job is how are we going to create jobs for the people,” he said.

Other members of the Board include the Minister of a Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison- Madueke; Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, Labour Minister, Emeka Wogu, Agriculture Minister, Akinwumi Adesina, Solid Minerals Minister, Musa Sada, Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu and minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau among other Ministers as members.

Members of the private sectors in the Board are Tony Elumelu, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Atedo Peterside, Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman of Innoson Group, Chief Bisi Onosanya, Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria PLC, Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank Governor and Mr. Ben Petters.