President Goodluck Jonathan has called on African leaders to focus on job creation as a prerequisite for economic growth in the region.
He also commended the United Kingdom, France, United States and China for indicating interest in helping Nigeria fight terrorism and ensure stability in country.
Jonathan commended the four world super powers at the ongoing 24th World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa on Thursday in Abuja.
He said the presence of many participants at the forum indicated a sign that the fight against terror would be won.
“Your coming here to support us morally is a major blow on the terrorists and by God’s grace, we will conquer them.
“I appreciate other countries that have expressed their commitment to help us especially in rescuing the girls abducted from one of our secondary schools.
“The Premier of China has been with us for a state visit and the Government of China has promised to help us, and we believe that this assistance will come almost immediately.
“The governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France have also spoken with me and have shown their commitment to the resolution of this crisis.
“I believe that the kidnap of these girls is the beginning of the end for terrorism in Nigeria,” he said.
With reference to the theme of the forum which is `Forging Inclusive Growth, Creating Jobs’, Jonathan explained that job deficit is not just an African problem but a global one.
“The International Labour Organization estimates that in 2013 over 200 million people were unemployed around the world; and this included about 75 million young people between the ages of 15-24.
“In Africa, we also have our employment challenges. The unemployment rates today are over 20 percent in many of our countries – Nigeria at about 24%, South Africa at 25%,” he said.
According to him, the unemployment problem in the continent is largely compounded by a youthful population and a pending demographic transition.
“As you know Africa’s population is very young. Other continents are “aging,” but Africa’s population of young people is growing. African leaders therefore face special challenges. We have the challenge to provide jobs, housing and healthcare.
“Demographers are also predicting that this youth population is going to grow even further. McKinsey, the consulting firm, has calculated that an additional 122 million workers will enter Africa’s labour force by 2020. And that by 2035, the combined size of the African labour force would be greater than that of the most heavily populated countries in the world, including China.
“This is daunting, and should be a wake-up call to all of us in Africa to work harder on job creation with a great sense of urgency. We have a lot of young people who are unemployed but who also do not necessarily have the required competencies or skills, even if the jobs are available and that again, is a major challenge,” he explained.
He reiterated that job creation has been the main focus of Nigeria’s ongoing Transformation Agenda – which according to him is a program to modernize and diversify the Nigerian economy.
“Job creation is one of the concerns that keep me up at night, and it has been the main theme of our federal government’s budget in recent years.”
Recognizing that the private sector is a major engine for job creation, the president said measures are being put in place to support private sector growth in the country.
Examples of such measures are ensuring a stable macroeconomic environment i.e low inflation, stable exchange rates and so on, investing in critical infrastructure i.e roads, railways, power and investing in the development of skills of Nigerians.
He lamented that despite the recent rebasing of Nigerian economy which placed Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa and the 26th in the world, the quality of growth in the country has been less than desirable as the country is not creating decent jobs for its teaming population.
He therefore disclosed that the focus is geared towards sectors which have high job-creating potential, such as agriculture, manufacturing, housing & construction, and the services sectors.
“We are learning from the example of other countries – such as China – to see what they have done in this regard to create jobs for their citizens.
“Our recent GDP rebasing exercise shows that the services sector now accounts for about 51 percent of our economy, up from 26 percent previously. And so we are introducing targeted measures to further harness this sector by supporting the development of our SMEs. For example, we are working to develop our housing and construction sector, given its potential to create jobs for our craftsmen and artisans. We also recently launched our National Industrial Revolution Plan which will further invigorate our manufacturing sector.
“In addition, in the short-term, we have also introduced special, government initiatives such as a business plan competition for young entrepreneurs (called YouWiN) which provides grants of between $10,000 and $90,000 for the best business plans. This program has thus far supported more than 2,400 young entrepreneurs who have created more than 26,000 jobs.
“We also have a Graduate Internship Scheme which places recent graduates in private sector jobs and a public works program as part of our Subsidy Re-investment Program (SURE-P) which has created about 120,000 jobs.”
He frowned at the growing inequality in the country and disclosed that his administration is working had to close the increasing gap between the haves and have-nots in Nigeria.
“However, we must ensure that the poor and vulnerable members of our societies are also carried along. We need economic growth – but we must work to ensure that this growth is inclusive. In Africa, most of our countries must begin to think about introducing social protection measures building on the strong traditions we already have of caring for one another,” he stressed.
He urged other African leaders to think bold and high about their policies to ensure that inclusive growth would be witnessed in the region soon.
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