Examining Atiku’s policy statement on Job creation and Criticize or Contribute

Sorry incase this long note looks boring but for those who are interested in the delivery of contesting presidency in the person of Atiku Abubakar, below is his policy of creating jobs for Nigerian youth if voted in.

You can save it to quote him in future. Excerpted from Daily Trust news:

 

The political landscape is getting more interesting as the primaries for the 2015 general elections draw closer. All the governors of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have openly adopted the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan as their candidate, while the opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC), has thrown the floor open for its members eyeing the country’s number one seat.

 

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Military Head of State General Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State as well as Sam Nda-Isiah, former chairman of Leadership Newspaper have all declared their intentions to vie for the APC presidential ticket.
But some analysts believe Atiku has gone ahead of the pack by documenting a policy position as the main thrust of his campaign.

Atiku feels that the document  is the explicit bid to modify the way the machinery of the federal government works by clarifying and streamlining Ministries, Departments and Agencies  and the responsibilities of removing overlaps and operational redundancies by systematically devolving and delegating operational responsibilities to states and local governments, and  private sector organisations (commercial and charitable).

The idea, which he is bringing to the table to be subjected to a retreat and debate, is that the federal government would be most effective by concentrating on a few priority areas.
The fact, according to the document is that, on the one hand, these policies are linked and can be tackled holistically and effectively through public private partnership.

There is a recognition that the private sector is best suited to do certain things and on others, the public sector will deliver optimally with significant social benefits.  On the other hand, appropriate government to government (G2G) cooperation and co-ordination at all tiers will deliver an optimal solution. Grassroots challenges are best dealt with at local or state levels rather than being lumbered by a distant federal government.

 

The most proposed solutions simply outline what the team needs do to address unmet needs and which agency, currently believed should be in charge of its implementation and also facilitate implementation. This is to ensure continuity with the current administration’s more sensible initiatives, and solutions will be aligned with existing instruments and institutions.

According to the paper, each policy area provides an insight into a narrow set of challenges, which are framed in hopes, expectations and aspirations.  The needs inspire the lead questions that organise possible policy solutions to these challenges. It is assumed that high level of unemployment, crushing poverty and unequal access to education must not only be tackled in their own right, but also to help improve security across the country. It will also target infrastructure investments which will serve as the foundation and incentives for investments in education and training, job creation and increased private sector investments in various sectors of our economy.

On the current state of affairs, the policy believes that whilst the elite live pampered lives, the vast majority of the population is trapped in poverty and destitution.
The middle class has crumbled under the weight of rent-seeking. Few can hope for a decent education, there are not enough jobs, infrastructure and public services are poor, and basic social security has no real meaning.
On vulnerable and neglected groups, the policy feels they fare worse in our society. The needs of young children, the elderly, or persons with disabilities barely register in national development efforts.

Despite Nigeria’s impressive growth rate in the past decades, one of the big challenges facing the country today is the high rate of unemployment.  The non-inclusiveness of the impressive growth that the country has experienced makes the current level of unemployment unacceptable and scandalous. This ‘jobless growth’ means that the labour force is growing at a faster rate than employment opportunities being generated.  The National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy 2 (NEEDS-2) did note this when it stated that “the economy had experienced growth without commensurate increase in job opportunities.”

 

The country has an increasingly youth population with over 53 million people between the ages of 10 and 24 representing about 40% of the labour force participation.   According to Doreo Partners (2013), unemployment rate in Nigeria is growing at the rate of 16% per year with the youth impacted the most and accounting for three times the general unemployment rate which stands at 23.9 per cent; and a youth employment rate standing at over 54 percent.  About 5.3 million youths are jobless and over 1.8 million of them entering the labour market yearly.

In essence, too many of our young people, including graduates of tertiary education, are unemployed. Many of those who have jobs are underemployed and are engaged in jobs that pay very little and require very little of the skills that they have acquired in school. This is painful for these young people and their families and is wasteful for our society.
The country’s unemployment challenges are exacerbated by increase in population, and expanding admission of students/candidates into tertiary institutions over the years that result to large turnout of graduates without corresponding job opportunities.

Ironically, every successive government had embarked on policies it believed could substantially reduce unemployment but with little result to show for it.  There was an attempt to link capital expenditure to job creation.  This failed to yield the desired results.  A National Action Plan on Employment Creation (NAPEC), pivoted by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Decent Work Agenda (DWA).   Central to the Decent Work Country Programs I (DWCPI 2005-2009) and DWCP II (2010-2015) are the strategic objectives of employment generation, social protection, social dialogue and rights at work in key sectors of the economy, accompanied by regulatory environment to stimulate the private sector to complement government effort in job creation.

To date, this is yet to flag off special job-creation solution for Nigeria. Another time that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) directed that all contract memoranda to the FEC from all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should mandatorily indicate the Local Employment Content (LEC) implication of the projects/programmes concerned. Three recent programmes for job creation  (i) The Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria (YouWin), (ii) the Mentorship and Internship aspect of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) and the Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) have only scratched the surface of the job creation crisis despite the huge resources expended on them.

 

But it is yet understandable that Nigeria’s signature to over 38 ILO labour-related conventions with 34 currently in force.
While all the employment statistics point to a gloomy picture, the statistical agency of government showed a different story.  The figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics for 2013 claimed that a total of 1,167,062 jobs were created nationally.  Of this figure 628,845 jobs (or 53.9%) were created in the informal sector while the figures for formal and public sectors were 423,720 (or 36.3%) and 105,497 (or 9.04%) jobs respectively.  Notionally, informal sector denotes unrecorded activities, hence the preponderance of job creation in such sector questions the reliability of NBS’s job statistics.

Rapid population growth as well as years of neglect and inadequate planning have meant that resources have not been effectively allocated to match the population growth. The country is confronted with a crisis situation where young people are completing higher education year in, year out without any jobs to go into. Even those who are not privileged to have the benefit of formal tertiary education are stuck in the rut of disguised unemployment in the informal sectors of the economy. Indeed, youth unemployment has reached a level where some commentators have advocated for it to be declared a national emergency