This article takes a cursory look at the APC manifesto one by one and try to see the practicality in each of the item listed. This is one episode of many to come with this focusing on job creation...
With the nation anticipating the dawn of a new government with a different style and which of course has promised to change the lot of Nigerians based on the manifesto of the party. It is imperative we prepare our minds and try an analysis of the party’s (APC) roadmap to change.
It is fascinating and rather intriguing that the ideas are lofty and any patriotic Nigerian will rather pray that the roadmap were diligently adhered to but their abound some caveats which I shall try as much as possible to the best of my abilities to highlights one after the other. For this episode we will look at the first item on the roadmap which is Job creation. Here are the action steps…
• Create 20,000 jobs per state immediately for those with a minimum qualification of secondary school leaving certificate and who participate in technology and vocational training.
That’s 720,000 jobs on the whole, what type of job? How much will they be paid? How will they be selected as am sure there are over 20,000 job seekers in a state and am also sure that over 20,000 youth will turn out for the said technology and vocational training
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• Encourage State Governments to focus on employment creation by matching every one job created by the State Government through funding with two jobs created by the Federal Government in the same state.
This is a very good idea as it will create more motivation for state government to create jobs and competition among states to surpass each other. But it may deface the policy of federal character in a situation where state A creates more jobs than state B. The federal government will then be bound by it word to develop a state A more than State B.
One of the first questions that will readily come to mind here is how or what will be the yardstick for measuring the number of jobs a state has created?
Another point to note is the funding aspect the Federal Government has promised, at a time when crude oil prices are at rock bottom low. Where will the funds come from? This may be one of the factors that might mar the entire manifesto.
• Direct conditional monthly cash transfers of NGN5,000 to the 25 million poorest and most vulnerable citizens upon demonstration of children’s enrolment in school and immunization, to help promote job empowerment.
If you multiply 5000 by 25 million, That’s 125 Billion Naira per month. Where will the money come from?.
How will they ensure that the five thousand naira will really be spent on job empowerment promotion and not on some trivial things?.
How will they determine the poorest and most vulnerable? as the term ‘Poor’ is a relative term.
• Establish Technology/Industrial Estates fully equipped with ICT, power and other support across the country to attract and encourage small-scale technology businesses and other entrepreneurs.
As noble as the idea sound, the issue of power and management might cripple it. Power in Nigeria we know is ‘not working’ which means they have to buy generator and maintain it with fuel… This sounds like a capital intensive project and yet again is the question of where the money is going to come from.
• Provide allowances to discharged but unemployed Youth Corps members for 12 monthswhile they seek jobs or acquire training and skills for job placement or entrepreneurship.
This is an interesting part… How much will be the allowances and will it cover those that have been discharged by NYSC before this administration which the numbers will be substantial.
What if the youth corp member could not procure a job before the end of the twelve month, and what if he was able to bet a job how will they know so as to stop the allowance.
This project I presume is capital intensive. The question of where is the money comes up again
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• Establish plants for the assembly and ultimately the manufacture of phones, tablets, computers and other devices.
Impressive idea and we all pray it is carried out whole heartedly by those that will be in charge of it. I mean come to think of it that Nigeria has it own assembly line for phones, Tabs and some other electronic gadgets… But hope it will be affordable to ordinary Nigerians?
• Pay a guaranteed indexed-linked price to farmers to ensure that there is always a ready market for their produce, which will create more jobs, agricultural related employment and sustain existing jobs.
If this can be done whole heartedly too, it will bring the change we are all clamouring for but the questions are will it work like the defunct marketing boards and is there a good storage facility in place to store the produce of these farmers like what is obtainable in developed countries.
• Provide One Meal A Day for all primary school students that will create jobs in agriculture, including poultry, catering and delivery services.
A capital gulping project but a good idea. This is not stomach infrastructure if well implemented.
• Create a scheme that provides matching funds for businesses that have already been validated and secured funding elsewhere, including by borrowing, if such business will create a minimum number of skilled jobs.
A version of Youwin by PDP which is really not working as it gets to ‘those who know who’. For this to work it should really, I mean really be done base on merit and experience people should be out in place here
Again, there are some technicalities that will be involve and the idea of securing funding elsewhere might make the project feasible
• Support training centers created for skills acquisition or vocational training by providing infrastructure for such institutions and matching grants where necessary, and organize job fair and recruitment exercises at such institutions.
This appears to be vague in nature. Why not empower all our tertiary institutions to offer skill acquisition or vocational trainings?
• Embark on vocational retraining and skills acquisition for unemployed graduates, school leavers and drop-outs emphasizing technology and construction such as plumbers, electricians and tilers, which will feed the public works and social housing schemes among others.
Good idea but the training should de-emphasize certificate acquisition and make it more practical in every sense of it.
Invest in large-scale public works projects, beginning in the first quarter of the administration, including a modern national railway system and interstate roads, to energize our economy and create new businesses and jobs throughout Nigeria.
‘Modern National Railway’ I sincerely hope we can get the money to do that and effort should be made to see the level where the past administration has reached in the rail development as this was used in their campaign program even if they had done a shabby job.
- Implement a social housing policy of one million low-cost housing units in the first four years, which will create housing and increase skilled and unskilled employment.
Right move in the right direction but the problem here is that hope it wont become the slums that we now have in some of the estates that was built by previous administrations. A case in point is Jakande Estate and also the 1004 flats before it was privatised in Lagos.
The numbers of the house and the fact that it is low cost might really make it to be like a camp site. How does your imagination view those houses in the next five years?
• Promote technology transfer, including investing in new and less expensive technologies (as in the building of affordable homes) to create more jobs.
This sounds like a worthwhile venture if it will be sincerely pursued
• Make Nigeria a global hub for Internet and telecommunications services, including
outsourcing and cloud computing, to create millions of new jobs.
This is another of the roadmap that looks and sound vague. Apart from outsourcing and cloud computing that was mentioned, how do you make Nigeria a global hub for internet and telecommunications services?
• Dramatically increase the number of small and medium-sized enterprises that produce newjobs, with industrial hubs focused on their creation and growth in all regions of the country.
‘Dramatically’. I just kind of ponder on that word. This idea should be reworked
• Increase investments in research and development, particularly in the areas
of science and technology, to create jobs in high-demand fields.
This is a long overdue venture which am sure previous administrations has done it half-heartedly. Search lights should be beamed on how to bridge the town and gown relationship. How do you explain my friend Jide Shittu in Chemistry whose M.Sc Thesis focuses on the pharmaceutical compounds in the sachet water we drink and it safety. His findings which to me are quite intriguing and should be work on but his thesis still lie fallow in our library
• Improve the entrepreneurial, vocational and technical skills of youth in areas
such as technology, agriculture, manufacturing and other important fields, to prepare them for the jobs of the future.
` How does this differ from item 10 and 11
• Ensure women receive fair treatment in employment, education and housing,
and encourage affirmative action for women based on merit.
Encouraging move.
Watch Out for part two of this article which will focus on fighting corruption.
Obafemi Fayomi
Ibadan
08175564141
[email protected]
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