Unemployment Rate High Despite N50bn Job Creation Provisiona

Two experts on Tuesday said that the N50 billion earmarked for job creation in the 2011 budget had not impacted on unemployment rate in the country.

The experts said in Lagos that the prevailing environment could not support job creation.

The Federal Government earmarked N50 billion in the 2011 budget to provide new jobs, but available statistics indicate that unemployment is still high.

Mr Olumide Adegoke, the General Manager, Standard Alliance Insurance Company, said that poor budget implementation might have made it impossible for the budgetary provision to impact positively on unemployment.

“If the N50 billion has been released and properly managed, it could have changed the face of unemployment,’’ he said.

The manager also said that the poor power supply had also frustrated government’s efforts to  provide employment.

Adegokesaid that the poor power supply was also one of the challenges facing small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) and appealed to the government to be proactive in revamping the sector.

“There is need to fast-track the provision of power supply so that SMEs can reduce cost of running their business and create job opportunities,’’ he said.

Mr Wole Olowu, the General Manager, True Bond Microfinance Bank, blamed policy inconsistency for the inability to reduce unemployment.

He advised the government to be consistent in its policy formulation, especially in granting loans to SMEs, provision of infrastructure and adequate security for SMEs.

“Improper disbursement of funds to the right channels can be a major problem hindering creation of new jobs  in spite of provision of N50 billion in the budget of last year,’’ he said.

He said that the corruption might have also impacted negatively on the efforts to create more jobs last year.