The Federal Government on Thursday said that the Labour Employment and Empowerment Programme (LEEP), a flagship of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, is capable of creating at least 2.5 million direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians.
The government explained that LEEP targets zero hunger, zero poverty economic growth and decent jobs through six strategic initiatives which are digital skills initiative, vocational entrepreneurship skills programmes, infrastructural upgrade, NELEX upgrade for employment acceleration, global remote work initiative and labour compliance enhancement.
Speaking at the unveiling of the programme in Abuja, the Minister of State for Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, urged development partners such as the World Bank, GIZ, the European Union, UNIDO and the Bank of Industry to support the drive of the current administration to mitigate the hardship Nigerians were undergoing.
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Insisting that poverty could be eradicated in the country, the Minister said that her ministry has so many structures that could take care of all the issues mostly neglected in Nigeria if they were ignited.
She said six out of the eight agendas under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda are under the labour ministry, adding that it was time to take deliberate actions and think out of the box to make life more meaningful for Nigerians.
The Minister expressed optimism that within four years about one million jobs should have been created through LEEP.
According to Onyejeocha, “We are in a position where we need to reposition the labour ministry. The world is moving towards technology and digitalisation and we don’t want to be left behind.
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“We can’t do it alone and so we need to partner with you to help us succeed in the country. Mr President during his campaign was clear about where he wanted to take Nigeria. Today we want to be deliberate, and accurate to key into the renewed hope agenda and we want to solicit your support to help us in achieving our key performance index.
“The ministry is out to make sure poverty is reduced if not totally eradicated through job creation. If we create enough decent jobs it will reduce a lot of the problems we have today including insecurity.
“We want to make sure Nigeria have food to eat, ensure regulation and workers welfare. Also, empowerment is very critical so we are going to be very deliberate to empower people with what they can use to start up their own business and become employers of labour.
“When you do this deliberately, poverty will be reduced, empowerment will be real and training will be impactful.”