President Muhammadu Buhari has said that job creation will remain one of the topmost priorities of his administration’s economic agenda.
The President said this at the 2nd Convocation of the Kaduna State University in Kaduna.
He said it was only through job creation that government could attain its objectives of improved security and poverty reduction.
Buhari
pledged that his administration would give the fullest possible support
to all efforts to create more jobs through the reorientation of
Nigerian youths towards an entrepreneurial mindset.
According
to him, his administration will ensure that youths in the country are
gainfully employed and youth restiveness curtailed.
"One
of the focal points of this administration is job creation. Job
creation will help in the achievement of other objectives of the
government such as poverty reduction and security which are some of the
challenges this administration is confronted with.
"Insecurity cannot be divorced from unemployment and poverty because an idle mind, they say, is the devil’s workshop.
"With
declining internally generated revenue and over dependence on the
equally declining oil revenues, there is need to seek other ways of
diversifying the economy so as to boost revenue.
"One of the ways we can achieve this is through the reorientation of our youths towards an entrepreneurial mindset.
"We
must therefore promote and enhance the teaching and learning of
entrepreneurial skills in all schools and tertiary institutions, thereby
exposing our youths to the basics and rudiments of starting and
sustaining their own businesses,’’ he said.
The
President said that to encourage and assist Nigerian youths to move from
being job seekers to job creators, his administration would sustain and
improve ongoing job creation programmes of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He
said that the programmes included the provision of start-up loans at
concessionary rates by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development
Agency of Nigeria, the Bank of Industry, the Bank of Agriculture and
other Federal agencies.
President Buhari urged the
Nigerian private sector to also do more to support government’s efforts
to boost youth entrepreneurship and the development of micro, small and
medium scale enterprises in the country.
He thanked the university for conferring an honourary doctorate degree of letters on him.
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