Minister of labour and employment, Dr Chris Ngige
says the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal
government has created over eight million jobs in
less than three years.
Ngige said the jobs were mostly blue collar jobs,
which he said was the main hub in employment
generation today.
He said farming, carpentry, bricklaying, tiling and
many others constitute the blue collar jobs which
the federal government was now using to redeem
youths from joblessness occasioned by lack of
white collar jobs.
The minister, who spoke to journalists Friday at
Ifitedunu, Anambra State after the ground breaking
ceremony of a specialist skill acquisition centre,
said because of the huge employment potential in
the blue collar jobs, the federal government
decided to build centres where it would give
youths of all educational qualification different
levels of training that would help them secure
jobs.
He said, “There are no white collar jobs any
longer. If you are waiting for one, you will wait for
a long time.
“People are now finding employment in the blue
collar jobs, and it is even more profitable. How
many of you are aware that the day pay for
carpenters and other artisans have increased?
“In Abuja they collect as high as N10,000. If they
get jobs even if it is five times a month, do you
know how much that is? How many white collar
jobs pay that?”
Ngige said the unavailability of artisans was
because most of them had gone to farm, and there
was need to train a new generation of tillers,
builders, and people in other crafts.
“In farming alone, this government has generated
lots of jobs. You eat Anambra rice here, others eat
Abakaliki rice, in Abuja I eat Kano rice and even
Imo too has come up with their. All these brings
employment,” he said.
Speaking on the Ifitedunu specialist skill
acquisition centre, the minister said the centre was
budgeted for in 2017 budget, and was again
captured in the 2018 budget.
“What that means is that the funds for the project
is already available. There is not fear of the project
being abandoned.
“Federal government will construct this skill
acquisition centre with maximum dispatch,” he
said.
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