News
80% Nigerian Youth Unemployed – CBN …As New CBN Gov Unfolds 10-Point Agenda
Permanent Secretary Establishment, Rivers State, Asoelu Gayamos representing Head of Service, Rivers State (right) presenting sourvenire to retired NUJ member, Mr Jemina Amachree (left) during the NUJ Tide chapel send-forth of its retired members/seminar on Life Before & After Retirement in the board room of Rivers State Newspaper Corporation, last Wednesday. Pix: Egberi .A. Sampson
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said 80 per cent of Nigerian youths are still unemployed.
This is despite repeated figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stating that the Nigerian economy had been creating millions of jobs in the past years.
Only last week, the NBS announced that the economy created about 1.2 million jobs in 2013 fiscal year.
But the Special Assistant on Sustainable Banking, CBN, Dr. Aisha Mahmood, disclosed that unemployment was still a severe threat to Nigeria’s economy.
Mahmood spoke while delivering a paper on Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principle during the 2014 World Environment Day programme organised by the Federal Ministry of Environment in Abuja.
She said, “As the population is growing, the resources that we all depend on, the food, energy, water, is declining. The demand for these resources will rise exponentially by the year 2030, with the world needing about 50 per cent more food, 45 per cent more energy and 30 per cent more water.
“In Nigeria, there is the issue of youth and employment. 70 per cent of the 80 million youths in Nigeria are either unemployed or underemployed. We are all witnesses to what happened recently during the immigration recruitment exercise and this is simply because 80 per cent of the Nigerian youth are unemployed,” she added.
Mahmood noted that currently Nigeria’s economy is the largest in Africa, adding that the country is using fossil fuel to achieve this growth trajectory.
She stated that Nigeria’s economic growth was as a result of its abundant oil reserves, and warned that the flaring of gas from oil may negatively affect citizens in the country if not properly managed.
She said, “Nigeria has been flaring gas since the discovery of oil in the 1950s. We produce and burn about 20 billion cubic meters of gas annually and this is enough to meet our energy need. Remember we said we don’t have electricity, whereas we can provide electricity with this gas that we flare. And also when we burn this gas, we produce green house gases that affect our livelihood and the livelihood of people that live around that area.”
The CBN special assistant also lamented the high number of persons living below the poverty line in Nigeria as well as the about 120 million persons in the country that still lack access to electricity.
According to her, the above reasons were some key issues why the financial sector came together to develop and adopt the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principle.
In her remarks, the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Laurentia Mallam, explained that the 2014 WED was targeted to address climate change and the impact of sea level rise on the environment.
She said, “In Nigeria, the impacts of climate change are manifested by erosion and landslides in the East, drought and desertification in the North, rising sea levels in the coastal areas and flooding across the nation. The transformation agenda of Mr. President in the environment sector is aimed at addressing all forms of land degradation through specialized projects.”
Meanwhile, two days after assumption of office, the new Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin I. Emefiele, has kept his promise to unfold his agenda, yesterday.
Addressing a world press conference at CBN Headquarters in Abuja, Emefiele promised that his administration would create a People-Centered Central Bank and ensure financial system stability.
He equally promised to maintain exchange rate stability and macro-economic stability. On monetary policy, Governor Emefiele said: “We shall pursue a gradual reduction in interest rates.”
Emiefele promised to pursue a gradual reduction in key interest rates, include the unemployment rate in monetary policy decisions; maintain exchange rate stability and aggressively shore up foreign exchange reserves.
The CBN governor also pledged to strengthen risk-based supervision mechanism of Nigerian banks to ensure overall health and banking system stability; and build sector-specific expertise in banking supervision to reflect loan concentration of the banking industry.
He observed inadequate trigger thresholds from a macro-prudential perspective, and said he would consider and announce measures to effectively address this anomaly.
Emiefele further said he would abolish fees associated with limits on deposits and reconsider ongoing practice in which all fees associated with limits on withdrawals accrue to banks alone; and introduce a broad spectrum of financial instruments to boost specific enterprise areas in agriculture, manufacturing, health, and oil and gas.
According to him, the CBN under his watch would establish Secured Transaction and National Collateral Registry as well as establish a National Credit Scoring System that would improve access to information on borrowers, assist lenders to make good credit decisions; and build resilient financial infrastructure that serves the needs of the lower end of the market, especially those without collateral.
He added that the CBN would renew vigorous advocacy for the creation of commercial courts for quick adjudications on loan and related offences.
Emiefele appealed to Nigerians to cooperate with the CBN in its bid to ensure a better economic prospect for the country, saying: “We must, by now, have been tired of hearing people talk about the ‘potentials’ of Nigeria. Now is the time to live that dream. I truly believe that working together, we can achieve our goals and give Nigerians the chance to live longer, better and more fulfilled lives.”
Vice President Kashim Shettima has arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for an official State visit at the invitation of the Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed.
Upon arrival yesterday, Shettima was received at the airport by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Dr. Gedion Timothewos, and other members of the Ethiopian and Nigerian diplomatic corps.
Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Communication, Stanley Nkwocha, revealed this in a statement he signed yesterday, titled: “VP Shettima arrives in Ethiopia for official state visit.”
During the visit, Vice President Shettima will participate in the official launch of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Programme, a flagship environmental initiative.
The programme designed to combat deforestation, enhance biodiversity, and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change targets the planting of 20 billion tree seedlings over a four-year period.
In line with strengthening bilateral ties in agriculture and industrial development, the Vice President will also embark on a strategic tour of key industrial zones and integrated agricultural facilities across selected regions of Ethiopia.
News
RSG Tasks Farmers On N4bn Agric Loan ….As RAAMP Takes Sensitization Campaign To Four LGs In Rivers
The Rivers State Government has called on the people of the state especially farmers to access the ?4billion agricultural loans made available by the State and domiciled in the Bank of Industry.
This is as the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) of Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), a World Bank project, took its sensitization campaign to Opobo/Nkoro, Andoni, Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor local government areas.
The campaign was aimed at enlightening community dwellers and other stakeholders in the various local government areas on the RAAMP project implementation and programme activities.
The Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Maurice Ogolo, said this at Opobo town, Ngo, Port Harcourt City and Rumuodumanya, headquarters of the four local government areas respectively, during the sensitization campaign.
Ogolo said apart from the ?4billion, the government has also made available fertilizers and other farm inputs to farmers in the various local government areas.
The Permanent Secretary who is the Chairman, State Steering Committee for the project, said RAAMP will construct roads that will connect farms to markets to enable farmers and fishermen sell their farms produce and fishes.
He also said rural roads would be constructed to farms and fishing settlements, and warned against any act that will lead to the cancellation of the projects in the four local government areas.
According to him, the World Bank and Federal Government which are the financiers of the programme will not condone such acts like kidnapping, marching ground and other acts inimical to the successful implementation of the projects in their respective areas.
At PHALGA, Ogolo asserted that the city will benefit in the areas of roads and bridge construction.
He noted that RAAMP was thriving in both the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; Lagos and other states in the country, stressing that the project should also be given the seriousness it deserves in Rivers State.
Speaking at Opobo town, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, the project coordinator, RAAMP, Mr.Joshua Kpakol, said the programme would reduce poverty in the state.
According to him, both fishermen and farmers will maximally benefit from the programme.
At Ngo which is the headquarters of Andoni Local Government Area, Kpakol said roads will be constructed to all remote fishing settlements.
He said Rivers State is lucky to be among the states implementing the project, and stressed the need for the people to embrace it.
Meanwhile, Kpakol said at PHALGA that RAAMP is a project that will transform the lives of farmers, traders and other stakeholders in the area.
He urged the stakeholders to spread the information to their various communities.
However, some of the stakeholders at Opobo town complained about the destruction of their farms by bulls allegedly owed by traditional rulers in the area, as well as incessant stealing of their canoes at waterfronts.
At Ngo, Archbishop Elkanah Hanson, founder of El-Shaddai Church, commended the World Bank and the Federal Government for bringing the projects to Andoni.
He stressed the need for the construction of roads to fishing settlements in the area.
Also, a former Commissioner for Agriculture in the state and Okan Ama of Ekede, HRH King Gad Harry, noted that storage facilities have become necessary for a successful agricultural programme.
Harry also stressed the need for the programme to be made sustainable.
In their separate speeches, the administrators of Andoni and Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Areas, pledged their readiness to support the programme.
At Port Harcourt City, the Administrator, Dr Arthur Kalagbor, represented by the Head of Local Government Administration, Port Harcourt City, Mr Clifford Paul, said the city would support the implementation of the programme in the area.
Also, the administrator of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Dr Clifford Ndu Walter, represented by Mr Michael Elenwo, pledged to support the programme in his local government area.
Among dignitaries at the Obio/Akpor stakeholders engagement is the chairman, Rivers State Traditional Rulers Council and paramount ruler of Apara Kingdom, HRM Eze Chike Wodo, amongst others.
John Bibor
President Bola Tinubu has ordered the commencement of personnel audit and skill gap analysis across all cadres of federal civil servants.
The president gave this directive in Abuja, yesterday, while speaking at the International Civil Service Conference, reaffirming his resolve to achieve efficiency and professional service delivery in the civil service.
“I have authorized the comprehensive personnel audit and skill gap analysis across the federal civil service to deepen capacity. I urge all responsible stakeholders to prioritize timely completion of this critical exercise, to begin implementing targeted reforms, to realize the full benefit of a more agile, competent and responsive civil service,” the president announced.
Tinubu further directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to prioritise data integrity and sovereignty in national interest.
He called for the capture, protection and strategic publication of public sector data in line with the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023.
“We must let our data speak for us. We must publish verified data assets within Nigeria and share them internationally recognized as fruitful. This will allow global benchmarking organisation to track our progress in real time and help us strengthen our position on the world stage. This will preserve privacy and uphold data sovereignty,” Tinubu added.
President Tinubu hailed the federal civil service as the “engine” driving his Renewed Hope Agenda, and the vehicle for delivering sustainable national development.
He submitted that the roles of civil servants remain indispensable in modern governance, declaring that in the face of a fast-evolving digital and economic landscape, the civil service must remain agile, future-ready, and results-driven.
“This maiden conference is a bold step toward redefining governance in an era of rapid transformation. An innovative Civil Service ensures we meet today’s needs and overcome tomorrow’s challenges.
“It captures our collective ambition to reimagine and reposition the civil service. In today’s rapid, evolving world of technology, innovation remains critical in ensuring that the civil service is dynamic, digital” the President said.
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack in her welcome address told the President that his presence and strong words of commendation at the conference has renewed the morale and mandate of public servants across the country.
Walson-Jack described Tinubu as the backbone of driving transformation in the Nigerian civil service, and noted that the takeaways from past study tours undertaken to understudy the civil service in Singapore, the UK and US under her leadership, is already yielding multiplier effects.
Walson-Jack assured Tinubu that her office, in collaboration with reform-minded stakeholders, will not relent in accelerating the implementation of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan, FCSSIP 25.
She affirmed that digitalisation, performance management, and continuous learning remain key pillars in strengthening accountability, transparency, and service delivery across MDAs.
Walson-Jack reaffirmed that the civil service is determined to exceed expectations by embedding a culture of innovation, ethical leadership, and citizen-centred governance in the heart of public administration.