Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate and 2023 Delta State Governorship Candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC), His Excellency, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, on Friday, faulted the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-led administration over the alarming rate of unemployment between 1999 to 2021, noting that the government’s failure in this regard is a major driver of poverty, crime, diseases and general weakening of the social fabric of society.
Omo-Agege in a statement he personally signed, said, Under the PDP-led administrations, unemployment rate in Delta State rose from 9.6% in 1999 to 31.14% in 2021. With an additional underemployment rate of 21.04%, joblessness in Delta is a major issue.
The federal lawmaker who is known for his numerous completed projects in his constituents said, the Delta State Employment, Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Programme (DEEP) will create the enabling environment and opportunities for ideals and reforms targeting massive private-sector economic development and growth through responsible management of government resources and processes.
The statement with title employment and empowerments reads, “Globally, unemployment is identified as a grave security challenge and threat to societal balance. In Delta State, unemployment is the greatest security risk, and government has an obligation under the Constitution and the need to promote social stability and inclusion to guarantee access to gainful and sustainable employment to its citizens.
“Under the PDP, unemployment rate in Delta State has climbed alarmingly from 9.6% in 1999 to 31.14% in 2021. With an additional underemployment rate of 21.04%, joblessness in Delta is a major issue.
“Evidently, government has consistently failed to create sustainable employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for our growing population, particularly our educated youths. Government’s failure in this regard is a major driver of poverty, crime, diseases and general weakening of the social fabric of society. This must be reversed to give our people a better life.
1.1. Job Creation
“The World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other multilateral bodies as well many Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and relevant national institutions such as the Central Bank, Bank of Industry National Directorate of Employment (NDE) all agree that jobs creation, promotion of viable small- scale businesses, common sense human capital investments, and economic transformation and diversification are the best ways to fight poverty and lift families up. These are tested escape routes to prosperity and higher living standards.
“So, our government will attend to massive jobs creation and general economic opportunities for our people. This is a top priority. Deltans who are prepared, willing and able to take up sustainable employment, empowerment and entrepreneurial opportunities will have a fair chance to do so and earn a decent living through a carefully planned and executed strategy under our ‘Delta State Employment, Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Programme (DEEP).
“DEEP is an unbreakable commitment to be fulfilled with innovative ideas and reforms targeting massive private-sector economic development and growth through responsible management of government resources and processes.
“The driving strategy behind DEEP will create modern cluster industries and manufacturing centers that will generate good jobs in every Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta. Our target is to create the right environment and support mechanism, including structured state guarantees, for the private sector to develop at least 5 major employment-generating corporate vehicles in each LGA annually. These will drive well- organised, government-supported and actively supervised Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to be strategically spread across the State on the basis of the unique economic strength of each LGA. This is at the core of our overall BUILD A NEW DELTA – BAND governance agenda.
“With our DEEP idea, we will lay a solid foundation for a robust local economy, through the implementation of business incubation and facilitating reforms and the promotion of entrepreneurial spirit amongst our people, special purpose innovative MSMEs, and broad-based private sector engagement, and empowerment for self-reliance and development.
“Further, DEEP will strengthen and expand our entrepreneurship and wealth-creating base to achieve economic growth by increasing investment in agriculture, industry, skills, infrastructure and new technologies. And because the private sector generally accounts for about 90% of jobs globally, we will carefully engineer this sector with the right and adequate incentives.
“So, with our DEEP strategy and under our broader economic revival plan, we will:
DEEP will strengthen and expand our entrepreneurship and wealth-creating base to achieve economic growth by increasing investment in agriculture, industry, skills, infrastructure and new technologies.
(1) accord high priority to job creation and opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation;
(2) embark on world-class entrepreneurial training, development and skills acquisition for graduates and young people with support from a Small Business Loan Guarantee Scheme to sustain new jobs created in the process;
(3) foster a business-enabling environment for enterprise and business incubation, development and long term survival;
(4) promote the rapid growth of our private sector and public-private partnerships and related specialised economic infrastructure and general development initiatives and concepts;
(5) give focused attention to productive employment generation in resource allocation and ensure that budgetary spending on capital projects is tied to verifiable job creation;
(6) put people to work through structured mass agriculture, farming and agri-business initiatives, rebuilding decayed public infrastructure and resuscitation of moribund private employment-generating entities through special government guarantees;
(7) strategically support the private sector to establish labour-intensive manufacturing and production processes as well as promote tourism;
(8) address the employability issue by initiating multi-skill development programmes for our people, especially the youths;
(9) promote and implement entrepreneurship development programmes, including financial literacy and access to credit for small scale businesses;
(10) launch modern skills-acquisition initiatives in diversified crops and animal farming, welding and fabrication, tailoring, carpentry, makeup artistry, personal care beauty business, and plumbing;
(11) establish a technology-driven, resourceful, and professionally administered Career Development Center for Deltans (CDCD) to train, counsel and connect Deltans, especially our youths, to employment opportunities in the Federal Government, companies in Nigeria and abroad and other employing entities across the globe; and
(12) create and manage a robust, reliable and up-to-date employment data bank for Delta State.
