http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/appointment/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=101209&ptitle=Nigeria's unemployment situation critical, says LCCI boss


Nigeria's unemployment situation critical, says LCCI boss
By Babatola Adeyemi

RELIEF may not be far away for the country's army of unemployed as the new president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Chief Femi Deru, described the unemployment situation in the country as critical and pledged to be in the vanguard of ensuring the achievement of full employment in Nigeria.

Deru made his views known in an exclusive interview with The Guardian recently in Lagos, a day after his investiture, during which Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, lauded LCCI for its support to the state through the Public-Private Partnership initiative.

Interestingly, the former President of LCCI, Chief Solomon Onafowokan, corroborated Deru when he said in his valedictory speech that the Private Sector has a critical role to play in job creation.

According to Deru, during his tenure, LCCI would broaden its activities to embrace the campaign for full employment in Nigeria. He stated: "We are known for canvassing for improved business environment, but I want to be in the vanguard of ensuring that full employment is achieved in Nigeria. I want to use LCCI to ensure that more of manufacturing is done by Nigerians, because that is where our skills, our graduates, our children can be better employed."

He added: "Boosting manufacturing so as to create employment opportunities has multiplier effects. Because the more you employ people, the more you feed the people who are dependent on those in employment. It is not good for you to have siblings and families and you are not able to feed them. So, it's a serious matter. And I want to make the employment of our graduates, technicians and skilled labour as one of my priorities, so that they can be more useful, because people want to be employed, they don't want to be begging on the streets".

The LCCI boss emphasised the role of the private sector in national development, stating that the sector ought to generate employment to minimise the problem of unemployment, poverty and insecurity in the country.

His words: "The private sector is critical to the current economic recovery and transformation efforts. We need the private sector to create wealth from which the government could generate revenue: we need the private sector to generate employment to minimise the problem of unemployment, poverty and insecurity in our society. We need a virile private sector to make our country a respected member of nations. We would not relent in our advocacy to foster a conducive environment for the private sector to play the role expected of it in the realisation of the Nigerian vision. We would sustain the tempo of our advocacy for a better policy, infrastructure conditions and conducive environment for business development."

Speaking on a similar note, Onafowokan said the private sector has a critical role to play in job creation, poverty alleviation, wealth creation and equitable distribution of income and many more.

According to him, the private sector has a major role to play in the realisation of the country's vision to be a leading economy in the continent and indeed globally.

Onafowokan, however added:" We cannot do this unless the environment is right, The business environment is still far from being ideal".

Fashola, who was represented at the investiture by the state's Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Wale Raji, lauded LCCI for supporting the state's quest for good governance.

According to the governor: "The participation of your organisations in our Public-Private Partnership initiative has enabled the state to provide an effective and efficient security system, establish a mortgage housing scheme, finance small businesses through its micro-finance scheme, beautify the environment and fund our schools. The relationship has also opened up some more areas of cooperation and obligation such as the payment and remittances of taxes".

While pledging to ensure an enabling environment for businesses in the state, he also pleaded with the stakeholders to pay their taxes promptly and regularly.

"Taxes are the other side of the coin in the social contract which the citizens must perform by paying to government. That is the only way your government can continue to build infrastructure that will support your investment and enhance your well being, that of your families and the citizens at large", Fashola stated.