Lagos – Some political observers in Lagos, on Tuesday expressed divergent views over the call by members of the House of Representatives for convening national summit on unemployment.
While some were of the view that the summit would not curb the crisis and would amount to waste of resources, others supported it saying it is move in the right direction to addressing the vexed issue of unemployment
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the call was the outcome of a motion moved recently by Rep. Kingsley Chinda (PDP-Rivers) entitled,“Urgent Need to Check the High Rate of Unemployment in the Country.’’
In his reaction to the call, Mr Gbadebo Oluwafemi, the former Chairman, National Youth Council of Nigeria, Lagos State Chapter, declared that convening summit on unemployment was not the solution.
“What we need is a pragmatic and proactive approach to unemployment in the country.
“There are agencies of government that are saddled with the responsibility of curbing unemployment; their problem has always been implementation.
“There is need for government to ensure that those agencies perform their responsibilities and create job opportunities for qualified Nigerians.
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“A national summit can only make recommendations and that will amount to waste of time, money and resources,” Oluwafemi said.
A political Economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, said the call for convening national summit on a critical crisis such as unemployment was not the right thing to do.
“I think that what is required in this kind of national crisis could be leadership from the executive branch.
“If there is an initiative on how partnership can be created; partnership between the private and public sectors and between international stakeholders who can be of value in the process of job creation.
“Yes, the House of Representatives have a role to represent the people in trying to project their interest and have hearings that can bring good ideas forward.
“But, I am a little confused that a national summit is being called by the National Assembly at this time on the subject,” Utomi said.
Mr Peter Ambrose, Secretary, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Abuja Chapter, was of the view that the summit would not yield any result.
He said: “the call for national summit is just claptrap; it will result to nothing.
“The various agencies in charge of employment should be mandated to find ways the unemployed can be employed.
“There are jobs everywhere in Nigeria; but government has failed to do the needful.
“I do not support any roundtable discussion to curb unemployment.”
However in his submission, Mr Festus Keyamo, Human Rights Lawyer, expressed divergent view saying he would support `anything’ that would curb unemployment in the country.
“Anything that will reduce the problem of unemployment, I support it.
“It is a good move if the legislators could generate ideas on how to curb unemployment; it is something that everybody should be support,” Keyamo said.
Mr Toyin Raheem, Secretary, Campaign for Constitutionalism and Human Rights, echoed the views expressed by Keyamo saying the call was in order.
“Section 142b of the constitution makes it mandatory that government must ensure the welfare of the people.
“Gainful employment is welfare to enable every family take care of their needs.
“Section 162(d) emphasises the payment of unemployment benefit; therefore the call for summit on unemployment made by the lawmakers is in order and support it,” he said.
Raheem, however noted that to achieve the desired result, employers of labour, the Nigeria Labour Congress, Rights activists and other stakeholders must be invited to participate in the summit. (NAN)
