Femi Adesina, spokesperson to Nigeria’s President, in a recent public presentation, says government itself doesn’t create jobs for its citizens but establishes an empowering environment that leaves the private sector with job creation, ODIMEGWU ONWUMERE verifies the claim.
In a well-publicized speech on April 21, 2023, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, who had less than 23 days to leave office, pleaded with citizens for forgiveness noting that his government from 2015 to 2023 fell short of the expectations of Nigerians who once regarded him as Mr. Integrity and believed he would lead the country well.
In line with that, on May 2, 2023, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said that it is not the government’s responsibility to create jobs, adding that all the government does is establish an enabling environment for creating jobs while the private sector creates jobs.
During his presidential campaign in 2015, Buhari promised to create 3 million jobs yearly, but Adesina argued, “Did you say 3 million was the commitment?
“He did not, in my opinion, put a figure on it. I recall President Buhari providing the percentage of the nation’s unemployed.
“Regard as it may, it is the job and the duty of the government to create an enabling environment for jobs in the country. It is not the government itself that creates jobs. All it does is to create an enabling environment,” Adesina was quoted to have said.
Was Adesina’s Statement misleading?
A government document, Nigerian Youth Employment Action Plan, Abuja 2021-2024, states that the Nigerian government stays focused on guaranteeing fair and useful employment for youths.
The National Employment Policy, the National Youth Policy, and the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy accentuate the centrality and capability of job creation for youngsters. At the global level, not the Private Sector, but the Nigerian government supports the implementation of the 2030 Plan for Sustainable Development. Furthermore, Nigeria turned into the primary government accomplice from Africa to earnestly commit to a responsibility towards the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth.
In August 2019, Nigeria facilitated the Global Youth Employment Forum, organized by the International Labour Organization. The discussion brought about the Abuja Youth Proclamation, a solid call by youths for expanded and groundbreaking action on youth employment.
Verdict: Yes, Adesina’s statement was misleading.
If employment was not government’s priority as Adesina claimed, the Youth Employment Action Plan would not have been of great concern to the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria over the years recorded in its 2021-2024 Action Agenda.
According to the document, “It was for this reason that the Nigerian Youth Employment Action Plan (NIYEAP) for the period 2009 to 2011 was initiated with a view to enable Nigeria to respond more effectively to the challenge of youth employment confronting the country.
“The urgent need to mobilize the full energy and capacity of the youth to achieve the national development goals, and to minimize the risks to national security and development posed by rising youth unemployment and underemployment, were also part of the reasons for the development of the NIYEAP (2009-2011). The NIYEAP (2009-2011) supported efforts of the Government of Nigeria aimed at creating an enabling environment for youth employment,” the document states.
Adesina’s position outlived its existence
Adesina, taking a leaf from the abovementioned, failed to remember that specialists and experts say that the 2009-2011 Action Plan, which had unassuming accomplishments, has outlasted its importance considering current real factors.
In a paper, one of the experts, Adejumo O. Oluwabunmi states that “Besides, the issues of human resources development and work age have been focused on by the Public authority in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the National Youth Policy (2019) and the National Employment Policy (2017).
“This Action Plan, which had modest achievements, has outlived its relevance in view of current realities. Moreover, the issues of human capital development and employment generation have been prioritized by the Government in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the National Youth Policy (2019) and the National Employment Policy (2017),” his paper states.
Main Function of Nigerian Government: A Legal Analysis
According to skeptics, social contract theorists generally advocate the notion that the state – or, more specifically, civil society – is the result of a contract, covenant, agreement, or compact.
The aforementioned contract, covenant, agreement, or compact, as well as its fundamental terms and conditions, may be codified in the Constitution or any other legally binding document.
As a result, this suggests that the Nigerian people, or the various indigenous peoples that make up Nigeria’s population, and the Nigerian government can argue that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria serves as the legally binding contract.
Binding Agreement that Govt Must Provide Security, Welfare, Experts Posit
It is through a purposeful retreat to this kind of authoritative agreement, pledge, understanding, or reduction that different [indigenous] people groups may willfully meet up to stay together and share in the advantages and laws of the local area.
- The provision of essential public services and security for citizens is the most fundamental function of government. By and large talking, under the common agreement, individuals intentionally give their freedoms of self-insurance over to the public authority (not the private sector); in this manner approving the public authority to some degree partake in an imposing business model of power.
- The law states in a paper by NAUJILJ 13 (2) 2022, “Section 14(2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 declares that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purposes of government.
“In this declaration, the security and welfare of the people are jointly presented as a sole purpose. Accordingly, the primary purpose of government is seen as one, but it has two interwoven limbs, namely: the security of the people and the welfare of the people.
“Notably, the deployment of the adjective “primary” in the said constitutional declaration suggests that the security and welfare of the people shall be the main or principal purpose of government in Nigeria.
“Failure of the government in this primary purpose will give birth to, if not tantamount to failure of the government in every other purpose because, without the accomplishment of the primary purpose, the accomplishment of every other purpose of government shall be baseless, meaningless, hindered, or frustrated.”
Conclusion
In the event that it isn’t the priority of the government to create jobs for the citizens, as Femi Adesina guaranteed, Abdulkhalid Anda Salihu in Rethinking Economics The Uploaders (RETU), 2021 could never have contended in Exploring Economics, saying a few changes, strategies, and techniques have been set up to resolve the issue of joblessness in Nigeria of which some were centered exclusively by the government to handle the issue head-around, several of them were circuitous through destitution mitigation projects, and others were imbued into national development plans.
According to a World Bank publication, a portion of the new projects by the Nigerian government incorporates Subsidy Reinvestment Program (SURE P), which was presented in 2012 towards reinvesting reserve funds gathered from fuel endowment on basic foundation undertakings and social security programs. “The major objective of this program was to employ graduates through internship programs to reduce social vulnerability,” it says.
Later in 2013, there was another drive by government called University Entrepreneurship Development Programs (UNEDEP) to handle graduate joblessness.
“It was started by the Service of Exchange and Speculation pointed toward advancing independent work among youth before their graduation from higher foundations of learning,” the data revealed.
Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YOU WIN), also, by the government, started in 2011, was organized to fund remarkable strategies for youthful hopeful employment visionaries in Nigeria.
And afterward, “the National Social Investment Program (NSIP) in 2017 is infused in the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and the recent trader money and N-power initiative.”
Notwithstanding these changes, Nigerians still witness skyrocketing joblessness and underemployment in the country which President Buhari was angling for forgiveness at the expiration of his tenure and he is faulted generally for the absence of a specialized structure to accomplish these changes besides the absence of progression.
With the above proof, it’s safe to state that Femi Adesina has communicated falsehood about job creation in Nigeria.
Odimegwu Onwumere is Director, Advocacy Network on Religious and Cultural Coexistence (ANORACC). He can be reached via: apoet_25@yahoo.com
