The Lagos State Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Babatunde Durosimi-Etti, has lamented that jobs meant for people in the country are being given to foreigners due to the absence of local skills and expertise.
He called for value reorientation among youths to enable them to tap into the abundance of opportunities in the state.
Durosimi-Etti spoke in Alausa, Ikeja, a statement said on Wednesday.
He described the situation where the jobs that could be undertaken by Nigerian artisans were given to their counterparts from neighbouring countries as worrisome, adding that the trend could be reversed if the home-based artisans were equipped with qualitative skills.
He said, “Presently, about 60 to 70 per cent of skilled jobs in our country are being handled by foreign artisans. The Lekki Free Trade Zone as of today has the deficit skill gap of almost 2,000 technicians that they couldn’t get among our artisans. Contractors handling construction works in the country come into Nigeria with their workers because they don’t have confidence in our artisans. So I keep wondering why can’t we have Nigerians who have those vocational skills and who could also bridge the gap of the over 50 per cent unemployment rate in Lagos?”
He said with the determination of the state government to address skills deficiency through investment in skills acquisition centres, the influx of foreign artisans into the country would become a history.
Durosinmi-Etti traced the history of the skyrocketed rate of unemployment to non-inclusion of skills acquisition in school curriculums, calling for a renewed value reorientation among job seekers and young entrepreneurs.
He said the decision of the Lagos State Government to inject N25bn empowerment fund aimed at granting soft loans to young entrepreneurs in the state within the next four years, with the interest rate of about one per cent administrative charges on the loan, was unrivalled.
The commissioner promised that the loan would be accessible to every qualified Lagosian who had convincing business ideas and innovations, regardless of status, locations, beliefs or political affiliations.
He said the newly constituted board members in charge of the Employment Trust Fund were people of impeccable character mostly from the private sector and with just two government officials.
He expressed hope that the rate of unemployment across the state would have been reduced drastically before the expiration of the four year term of the fund.
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