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Nigeria partners with Britain on Job creation

 

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Dr Festus Keyamo, with the Political Counsellor, British High Commission, Mr Dominic Williams in Abuja.

 

Nigeria partners with Britain on Job creation

Jobs

By Tosin Kolade

Abuja, Oct. 4, 2019 (NAN) Nigerian Government has expressed its willingness to partner with the British Government in tackling unemployment and creating job opportunities for young persons in the country.

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Dr Festus Keyamo, stated this when the Political Counsellor, British High Commission, Mr Dominic Williams, paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.

“We are ready to collaborate with our partners all over the world to open up avenues for job creation. We are open to all kinds of suggestions and levels of co-operation,” he said.

He disclosed that Government has opened up other sectors as part of efforts to diversify the economy from oil, which would in turn create room for employment.

According to him, part of the efforts of Government to diversify the economy and boost job creation include empowering people to go back to the farm through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, as well as activating the mines and steel sector.

Keyamo noted that government, through the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), has been empowering many youths by training them on basic artisinal skills to make them self-employed, as well as employers of labour.

He observed that empowering the youths with the acquisition of skills has also reduced the practice of importing such skills from other countries.

“The problem of unemployment can only be solved, not through direct employment by the government, but by training people to acquire basic skills by which they can be self-employed and also employ some small workforce,” he said.

The Minister of State maintained that by curbing corruption, and diversifying the economy, government has been on the right track to creating jobs.

Earlier, the Political Counsellor, British High Commission, Abuja, Mr Dominic Williams, sought ways the Britain could assist Nigeria in its efforts at job creation.

In a related development, Keyamo, also said job creation and youth employment were top priorities of President Muhammadu Buhari’s next level agenda.

While receiving members of the Pan African Youth Union, led by Mr Niyi Oladele, the minister noted that unemployment was one of the major problems facing youths in the African continent and the social vices therein, could be attributed to youth unemployment.

“There is the problem of insecurity all over Africa and this problem cannot be caused by youths that are much older in terms of age or gainfully employed.

“There is no way the youth that is gainfully employed even as an artisan will have time to engage in kidnapping, terrorism, armed robbery, banditry and other social vices.

“The thinking here in the Ministry of Labour and Employment and this Government is that the issue of youth employment and job creation should be top of our agenda.

“This is why Mr President has decided to strengthen the Ministry and its Agencies, especially the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).

“There are a lot of programmes under the Ministry and its parastatal agencies that are basically aimed at empowering our youths by making sure that they acquire basic skills to enable them survive on their own,” he said.

The Minister also corrected the misconception by the general public that the Ministry of Labour and Employment provides only white collar jobs to people, saying ” This is not true”.

“That is not what the Ministry is aimed at achieving, we want to make sure our youths acquire skills that would make them entrepreneurs and even employers of labour,” he stressed.

He appealed to the Youth Union to generate a data base of youths with skills that the Federal Government could use to identify youths to train and empower, saying that this government would have met the objectives of the Union.

He said government was more committed than never before to work and cooperate with the group in job creation and skills acquisition.

The leader of the delegation, Mr Niyi Oladele, said the aim of the visit was to seek partnership and working relationship with the Ministry.

He pledged the Union’s readiness to work with the Federal Government in the area of creating jobs and employment for the Nigerian youths. (NAN)

TAK/AFA
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Edited by Felix Ajide

 

Foreign

Britain, Germany agree on Brexit with deal, differ on approaches

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the visiting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Approach

Berlin, Aug. 22, 2019 (Xinhua/NAN) German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the visiting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have reiterated the Brexit with a deal, but believe in different in approaches.

In his first trip abroad since assuming office, Johnson called again for re-negotiations for the Brexit agreement between Britain and the European Union (EU) in order to avoid Britain leaving the bloc without a deal on Oct. 31.

The EU, Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron have repeatedly rejected to renegotiate the Brexit deal with London. The Brexit deal made under Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May was rejected three times by the British Parliament.

The most disputed issue is how to prevent a new border between controls between the EU member Ireland and British Northern Ireland.

At the joint press conference before the meeting, Johnson said he believed the so-called backstop, an arrangement in the withdrawal deal designed to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, had “grave, grave defects” and that it therefore “plainly has to go.”

“But once we get rid of it, if we change it, then I think there is the real prospect of making progress very rapidly indeed,” Johnson added.

Johnson said he was in favor of Britain leaving the EU with a negotiated deal in place, but stressed that he didn’t think his predecessor, Theresa May, had made real alternative proposals to the backstop in order to ensure this happened.

Merkel said the backstop was intended only as a transitional rule for the not finally resolved Ireland issue.

So far, it has been assumed that a final solution will be found in the next two years.

Merkel also emphasized the interest in a “negotiated withdrawal”, but at the same time said that “We are also prepared if such a negotiated withdrawal does not exist”.

“But you might find them in the next 30 days. Why not? Then we’re a long way ahead,” said Merkel.

She added that border controls between Northern Ireland and Ireland would become superfluous and that the integrity of the single market could be safeguarded if Britain and the EU re-defined their future relations.

Johnson said that Britain and Germany stood shoulder to shoulder on many international issues, including in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and in the fight against climate change.

The British prime minister is scheduled to visit Paris on Thursday to talk with Marcon.

The two meetings are likely to help form consensus ahead of the G7 summit from Aug. 24 to Aug. 26 in Biarritz in southern France. (Xinhua/NAN)

YEE

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(Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

General news

(Video) NAN News Highlights for Thur., July 19, 2018

1. UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed has commended Nigerian Government for putting in place measures to address the issues of slums, governance and corruption.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YluofRd-6U&feature=youtu.be
Mohammed urged other African countries to promote safe, resilient and sustainable cities that would phase out slums in the continent.
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2. Three Nigerian secondary school students will represent the country at the World Adolescent Robotics Competition in China this July.
The students – Tawakalitu Giwa, Oluwaseun Omotayo and Ayomide Adetunji from Lagos state, south west Nigeria, are participating in th event organised by the China Association of Science and Technology.
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3. Isreal has called for a close working relation with Nigeria and Africa at large in the areas of security, agriculture and trade, to achieve meaningful development.
Mr Barnea Hassid, Director, Africa Department 2, West and Central Africa, said the call for bilateral relations with Nigeria was to share ideas and technologies for Israel’s rapid development .
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4. The UN says Boko haram activities in affected areas has continued to hinder the demarcation of the Nigerian Cameroon border.
UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres in a report, on the activities of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel cited the unrest in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon as partly contributing to the challenges faced by the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission.
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5. British police have identified several Russians believed to be behind the nerve agent attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
The Press Association which cited a source close to the investigation, recalled that Britain blamed Russia for the poisonings due to Novichok, a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Russians.

Read More

Foreign

Nerve agent: British town urged to remain calm

Nerve agent: British town urged to remain calm
Investigation
London, July 9, 2018 (dpa/NAN) Head of British local council on Monday urged residents of Wiltshire community to remain calm as officials investigate the death of a local woman after exposure to a nerve agent.
“Wiltshire is a resilient community but this is really testing that resilience now,” said Jane Scott.
The 44-year-old victim died after being exposed to Novichok in Amesbury, Wiltshire.
A 45-year-old man who was also exposed to the nerve agent remains critically ill. The pair were hospitalised June 29 with poisoning symptoms.
Around 100 detectives from the Counter Terrorism Policing Network were working alongside the Wilthsire police, Scotland Yard, said in a statement.
Calling it “shocking and tragic news”, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the head of UK Counter Terrorism policing, said the police were working meticulously to gather all the available evidence and identify those responsible for the “outrageous, reckless and barbaric act”.
Prime Minister Theresa May said she was “appalled and shocked” at the news.
“Police and security officials are working urgently to establish the facts of this incident, which is now being investigated as a murder,” British news agency Press Association, reported.
Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal, and his daughter were found collapsed in Salisbury about 10 kilometres from Amesbury in March, after they were poisoned with Novichok.
Both later recovered.
Last week, Britain urged Russia to explain the use of a nerve agent in southern England, after it was confirmed that the couple in Amesbury were exposed to the same nerve agent as Skripal and his daughter. (NAN)
OYE/MST
Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Muhammad Suleiman Tola