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The Minister of
Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige has assured Nigerians that
the government is doing everything possible to stem job loses, while
creating new ones in 2018.
The National
Bureau of Statistics recently said that about four million Nigerians
lost their jobs in 2017, an information that has led to wide criticism
of the Buhari led APC government that promised to create three million
jobs per annum.
In his new year
message, Ngige asked Nigerians not to worry over the recent statistics
on job losses released by the National Bureau of Statistics(NBC) as the
development is effectively modulated by a similar release by the Central
Bank of Nigeria(CBN) which indicates over a Seven Million job growth in the Agricultural sector during the year.
He said: “I
wish to assure Nigerians that 2018 will not be as bleak as 2017 in terms
of job losses as the Federal Government has put enough checks to
forestall a repeat of what was encountered in 2017.
“As a matter of
fact, the figure released by the NBC must be placed alongside
statistics by the Central Bank of Nigeria which shows that over seven
Million jobs have been created in the Agricultural Sector. This is the
only way to arrive at a balanced job situation in the country”.
He said the
Federal Government will work harder in the new Year to create more jobs
and sustain the current efforts at protecting the existing ones, saying
“We shall continue to maintain our principled stand against retrenchment
and encourage the state governments to do same,” Ngige stated
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