SIR: Job creation is currently a problem not only in developing countries but for much of the developed world .Perhaps Nigerians can learn from the example of those countries who are genuinely interested in creating jobs for their people. We have never really been sincere about job creation in Nigeria.
It is said that the American Dream begins and ends with a job and President Barack Obama definitely knows what that means for re- election.
Whereas in Nigeria the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo did say quite bluntly on National Television that it is not the business of government to create jobs whilst at the same time admitting that there were over 30 million Nigerians unemployed.
Eventually with the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) document which he flagged off for a nationwide consultation on March 15 2004, Obasanjo said there would be concerted efforts to create one million jobs.
It looks like for twelve years the PDP has not had a definite plan on the ground for job creation. The Aliko Dangote-headed job creation committee said to be poised to create 12 million on the eve of an election year is suspect.
If the government does not know what to do with the 50 billion naira earmarked for the test run of the National Action Plan on Employment Creation (NAPEC), I suggest they give the money to our universities to commercialise research. This is how blue chips companies are started. Hewlett- Packard which started in a garage, with Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard at the suggestion of their Professor, Fred Terman gave rise to Silicon Valley, the world’s largest and most successful industrial estate. Multinational companies like Microsoft, Apple and Amazon.com all started from garages. Coming home, our own Florence Seriki of Omatek Computers started as a youth in a one bed room apartment. The youth are the future of business and industry. We should take their business proposals more seriously especially as it concerns technology For concerned persons, I would recommend the book titled Fred Terman at Stanford: Building a University, a Discipline and Silicon Valley by C.Stewart Gilmor (Stanford University Press)
Interestingly, Goodluck Jonathan uses the social networking site, Facebook so he has heard about the founder, Mark Zuckerberg still in his twenties and whose company has been valued by Goldman Sachs at 50 billion dollars.
With regards to agriculture and especially the importation of rice, we have the capacity to feed our selves. I think President Goodluck Jonathan is aware of this fact. Whilst still Vice Presidential candidate and on the campaign train, Jonathan told the people of Abakaliki, in obvious reference to rice production in the area that Abakaliki would be transformed into the Thailand of Africa. How nice it would have been if we had celebrated 50 years of Nigerian independence with rice grown in Abakaliki but instead the papers reported the First Lady Patience Jonathan distributing bags of rice imported from Brazil to mark the 50th anniversary.
I feel we should try to make the best of a bad situation by encouraging our able bodied unemployed to turn to volunteering for worthy causes. Voluntee-ring gives more meaning to life, helps you form valuable social relationships; participants develop useful skills and also have some "experience" to put on their CV. Through volunteering individuals also discover business opportunities.
In Britain the economic value of volunteering measured in terms of its wage value is 40 billion dollars a year.
•Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth,
Waltham Forest, England.
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