President Muhamadu Buhari has disclosed that he and his team are working hard to ease the high level of unemployment in the country by creating millions of jobs for the many jobless youths. Buhari made this declaration on Thursday, August 18 while speaking at a symposium titled ‘Unwinding unconventional monetary policies: implications for monetary policy and financial stability in Africa’ organised by the Association of African Central Banks (AACB).
The president, who outlined plans of how the government aims to achieve this lofty goal, said his administration would diversify the economy away from oil and other primary products. He said: “For us in Nigeria, while recognising the challenges we are confronted with and the need to surmount them, we are determined to diversify the economy away from excessive reliance on oil and other primary products. “Consequently, we are taking measures and implementing policies that would ensure we are self-sufficient, generate massive employment for millions of our youth, and explore our untapped human and natural resources.
“We shall also embark on export and production diversification steps including investment in infrastructure; promotion of manufacturing through agro-based industries and expansion of Regional Trade. “All these would involve integrating the informal economy into the mainstream and providing funds to Small and Medium Enterprises. We shall also continue, with greater determination and focus to pursue our goal of ensuring improved security for our country and its citizens, and without letting up on our fight against corruption and terrorism.
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“Side by side, with economic stimulus measures, we must intensify our surveillance and give guidance to the operations of our financial institutions to reverse the trend of illicit flows of funds out of Africa. “We should all be serious in putting in place measures aimed at ensuring that the proceeds of these illicit flows are repatriated to their countries of origin with minimal bureaucratic hitches.”
The symposium was attended by many central bank governors from across Africa as well as Nigeria’s own CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele. It will be recalled that vice president, Yemi Osinbajo had recently also rolled out the immediate agenda of the administration to curb the current downward spiral of the country’s economy. Speaking at the 2016 presidential policy dialogue session which was organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos on Thursday, Osinbajo said the government was quite serious about swiftly correcting problems facing the economy.