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Ahead of the December 1 commencement date for the 200,000 graduates being enrolled in the integrated social protection scheme of the Federal Government, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has said that the scheme will cover at least 50 per cent of the population.
A statement from the Deputy Director (Press) in the ministry, Mr Samuel Olowokere, in Abuja Monday, quoted Ngige as saying at the on-going World Social Security Summit in Panama City that the social intervention scheme was one of the cardinal programmes of the administration to address unemployment.
Presenting the nation’s position, he said that the objective was to tackle youth unemployment and restiveness through job creation, in the face of the tough economic challenges facing the country.
“Some of the programmes in our integrated social protection scheme are already being implemented as evidenced in the 200,000 graduates who will commence work by next month,” Ngige said.
“More of the jobs are in the offing. Our target is to ensure that millions of Nigerians are lifted out of poverty, while at least 50 per cent of the population is captured in the social security net.”
The minister who spoke on the theme ‘Evolving Role of Social Security in a Changing World’, gave assurances that the activities of the National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITFund) were being enhanced to make it more responsive to achieving social security goals.
He also said that the government was poised to give more support to the operations of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as well as that of the National Pension Commission (PENCOM).
