Labour Minister promises government resolve to reduce unemployment rate
By Tunde Opalana
The Federal Government will intensify efforts at reducing the alarming rat of unemployment in the country through calculated policies such as skill acquisition and development programmes.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammadu Dingyadi made the promise on Monday at the ministry’s budget defence session at the National Assembly.
He told the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity chaired by Sen. Diket Plang (APC-Plateau) that though he was barely three months in office, the ministry was putting up efforts at tackling unemployment in the country.
The minister “we have each and every hour been fighting unemployment in the ministry because that is our key assignment.
“That is the key responsibility that the Minister of Labour and Employment is leading with.
“All the skill development programmes that this ministry is doing, we are doing it to fight unemployment.
“This is our major responsibility. And like I said, we are on top of the situation to ensure that we fight unemployment to finish”.
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Speaking on statistical data on unemployment I’m the country, Dingyadi said “by way of presenting figures, I don’t want to go into giving you figures that I’m not very sure of. But I want to assure you that we have these figures.
“I didn’t come with them. And we have to coordinate them because all our parastatals and agencies are working on this issue of fighting unemployment.
“So we’ll coordinate and provide our committee with these figures. I know members of this committee are very serious and very intelligent.
“When we bring these figures, you will know whether what we are telling you is correct or not. So please give us a little time. We will get these figures ready for you and we will make them public if you want us to do so,” he said.
“I’m sure the figures are there. It’s only that we didn’t come with them because we don’t know that this question is going to be answered”.
Meanwhile, the Committee commended the Tinubu administration for it’s welfare policy to the Nigerian workforce in both public and private sectors.
Committee chairman, Sen. Diket Plang, said “the recent implementation of the new national minimum wage, which took effect on April 1, 2024, is a testament to this commitment.
“Our budget allocation which is slightly reviewed upward as against 2024 Budget Act, will support the Ministry’s efforts to ensure and enforce that workers receive fair compensation”.
