The National Assembly has advised the Buhari government to tackle youth unemployment in the country.
Chairman Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity, Sen. Suleiman Nasif and his House of Representatives counterpart, Hon. Ezenwa Onyebuchi, spoke when Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, presentated the 2018 budget of the ministry.
The committees urged the minister to deal frontally with the menace of youth unemployment by widening the scope of the various vocational skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development programmes being championed by the ministry.
According to the committees, employment generation is a critical area, which the ministry needs to do more upon the passage 2018 appropriation bill.
They commended the minister for effective and efficient utilisation of the ministry’s 2017 budget, especially in the area of youth empowerment through skills acquisition programme.
Earlier, Ngige said the ministry ensured diligent implementation of budgeted projects and programmes in 2017 appropriation.
“We were operating on only 20 per cent budgetary release until January 2018.
“Our budget performance for 2017 would have surpassed expectations of Nigerians and critical stakeholders, if not for the paucity of funds for the implementation of plans and programmes.
“This is in terms of critical areas of capacity building, strengthening of labour councils and other capital projects which were not fully funded due to the global economic recession,” he said.
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