Victoria Mgbanwa
In a bid to address the country’s unemployment crisis, the Federal Government has announced plans to establish national job centers aimed at empowering 10 million hard-working Nigerians.
According to the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, the job centers will serve to bridge the gap between available vacancies in industries and businesses and the talent pool within the country.
Uzoka-Anite stated, “We are creating a national job center to match available vacancies in industries and businesses with the available talent pool. The job center will also train and equip people to be job ready.”
She further explained that initiatives like the Skill-Up Artisans program, led by the Industrial Training Fund, will provide tech-enabled skills training, licensing, access to essential toolkits, and promote industry-standard excellence among artisans.
Regarding the scope of the initiative, Uzoka-Anite mentioned, “Over two years, the program aims to empower 10 million hard-working Nigerians, reflecting the government’s commitment to promoting economic development and improving citizens’ standard of living through job creation.”
In addition to the job center initiative, the government has also launched the National Employment and Talent Exchange Program (NATEP) aimed at creating one million jobs through talent exchange/export, business process outsourcing, and job outsourcing”, she said.
