Ngige challenges ARLAC countries on poverty, unemployment

James Ojo, Abuja

Member countries of the African Regional Labour Centre (ARLAC) have been urged  to adopt active policies and programmes to tackle unemployment and poverty.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, said the call was necessary to check the consequential social tension and violent crimes .

Speaking  at the 46th session of the ARLAC held over the weekend in Kampala, Uganda, Ngige said poverty reduction would easily be achieved by harnessing the efforts of various agencies and departments charged with  the strategic objective of social protection.

“Africa is replete with  tales of worrisome level of child labour, human trafficking and exploitation, irregular migration, youth restiveness, terrorism, armed banditry and arson among others.  Addressing this  as the theme of this high level symposium could not have therefore come at a more  auspicious time,” he said.

To achieve this, he  called for  the faithful implementation of the pro-people development model as articulated by the Director General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Guy Ryder, during the International Youth Conference in Abuja in 2019.

Dr. Ngige who is also the Chairman of the Government Group of the Governing Board of the ILO  similarly said in Nigeria,  the Buhari administration had achieved a synch with the ILO’s development template  through the strategic operationalisation of an integrated employment and empowerment strategy in the national  development paradigm.

“The pro employment macroeconomic policies for job creation ought to be a multi-sectoral agenda of government, traversing ministries and agencies. This is exactly what the government of Nigeria  is currently doing by setting clear  targets on key economic sectors with high propensity for job creation such as agriculture, mining, works and housing, trade and investments as well as in special agencies like the  National Social Investment Programme as the fulcrum for job creation.

“We are working to align the prerequisites of the labour market with the capacity of the labour force in a way to create  synergy and ease responsiveness to innovations. Our Ministry of  Labour and Employment is currently spearheading  the shift of emphasis from white collar job to the growing  opportunities that abound in the blue collar market in line with the changing world of work,” Ngige said.