Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment Inaugurates National Employment Council

ABUJA (ILO News): Further to the approval of Nigeria’s National Employment Policy (NEP) on 19th July 2017, which was reviewed with the Financial and Technical support of the ILO, the Minister of Labour and Employment has inaugurated the National Employment Council (NEC) urging its members to coordinate the implementation of the Policy. .

During the inauguration ceremony, held on 8th February 2018 in Abuja, the honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator (Dr.) Chris Ngige, charged renowned experts, practitioners, policy makers, and others in the field of development and employment to proffer solutions that will ultimately halt and reverse the current unemployment situation in Nigeria.

Quoting the National Bureau of Statistics, Dr. Ngige regretted the unemployment rate in Nigeria which rose to 14.2% by the last quarter of 2016 from 10.4% in 2015. In his words, “there were a total of 28.58 million persons in the Nigerian labour force in the last quarter of 2016 that were either unemployed or underemployed compared to 27.12 million in the third quarter”. He urged the members of the National Employment Council to be urgent about initiating strategies to address the unemployment situation in Nigeria before it overwhelms the nation.

To succeed on the task before them, the Minister urged the 22-member National Employment Council to:

• Work assiduously towards removing duplication of efforts and wastages of scarce resources through robust collaboration by all stakeholders.
• Provide guidance for the implementation of the strategies and programmes of action of the National Employment Policy.
• Examine employment situation in the country and make recommendations to government in addition to setting broad policy guidelines to ensure that employment generation strategies conform to government priorities and programme.

In his welcome remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr. Bolaji Adebiyi, reminded participants that the National Employment Policy was formulated to address the unemployment crisis. He called for a shared vision about the sectors of the economy that are most likely to generate productive employment and also eliminate the current situation where policies supporting employment generation and skills development fail to address labour market needs in a strategic manner. He called for the commitment of all the members to collectively achieve the purpose for which the council was established.

The National Employment Policy which was printed with the support from the ILO was also unveiled during the inauguration ceremony with the active participation of the Director of ILO, Abuja Country Office, Mr. Dennis Zulu. Copies of the policy are being circulated across tripartite partners and Federal government of Nigeria Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other relevant stakeholders to ensure awareness and drive implementation of the policy.