Business Club Ikeja (BCI) has called on the federal government to declare state of emergency on job creation for the teeming unemployed youths in the country for the nation’s human capital development index to drive the economy.
Unemployment in Nigeria is one of the most critical problems the country is facing as unemployment Rate in Nigeria increased to 23.90 percent in 2011 from 21.10 percent in 2010, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
Suleiman Tella, BCI’s president also deplored the current power supply in the country, insisted that the development has severe impact on the manufacturing sector and Nigerians.
He said “in order to nip the practice in the bud, the Federal government should consider declaring state of emergency in the job sector”.
“One of the ways to deal with this menace is to declare state of emergency in the job creation. Without job for the angry youths, the police can do little in its fight against crime.
“The time is ripe for the Federal government to reconsider creation of state police. State police is needed now more than ever as it will help to stem the tide of insecurity. Government should come up with more stringent penalties to punish individuals who engage in kidnapping, armed robbery, unprovoked murder and assassination as well as other heinous crimes against humanity so as to deter people from engaging in them”, he further said
The industrialist expressed disgust over the spate of insecurity in the country and disclosed that the development is caused by large scale youth unemployment in the land.
While calling on power sector investors’ to meet the necessary supply target that would boost the potentials of manufacturers in 2014, he also expressed dissatisfaction with the dwindling power generation capacity and said it far below the target set by the Federal government.
Lamenting further, he said “It is disheartening that despite the huge sum of money been sunk into the revamping of the ailing power sector ,no significant improvement has been felt by Nigerians”.
“We pray that the power sector now in private hands will live up to expectation as power represents a major challenge to the real sector and informal sector of the economy.”
Tella, who expressed these during an interactive session with newsmen organised by the association’s in Lagos.
The industrialist lamented that the power situation has not improved in Nigeria, despite the huge resources successive governments invested in the sector, challenging the Federal government to ensure that its gas master plan see the light of the day. The master plan is aimed at boosting electricity to the manufacturing sector and the people.
According to him, the Federal government must be up and doing to resolve all labour issues that may hamper complete privatization of the sector.
Tella, however expressed the need for all the grey areas in the petroleum industry bill currently before the National Assembly to be resolved and pass into law in order to spur the growth of the nation’s oil and gas sector.