Nigeria to partner donor agencies to create 2.5m jobs

THE Federal Government says it is partnering with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the German Agency for Development (GIZ), among donor agencies, for a ‘comprehensive plan’ that will create about 2.5 million jobs under the Labour Employment & Empowerment Programme (LEEP), an initiative of the ministry of labour and employment.

Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, minister of state for labour, stated this in a document seen by Businessday.

The minister said the comprehensive reform plan was aimed at addressing internal issues faced in the ministry and advancing the overall mandate of the ministry through strong strategic initiatives in line with the Renewed Hope agenda.

The partnership will lead to technical assistance and grant funding for training, capacity-building and infrastructure development to support the implementation of the LEEP Initiative. The project is also aimed at enhancing technology transfer and skill exchange programmes between Nigeria and other development partners through the LEEP Initiative.

“The ministry currently faces multifaceted challenges around poor revenue generation and operational inefficiency due to a lack of information transparency and inadequate oversight within the ministry’s agencies and parastatals

“The skills and capacity gap within the ministry and its agencies further exacerbates the existing challenges.” These challenges affect the ministry’s ability to among others, implement digitisation initiatives to enhance information transparency and streamline performance management processes.

Others include the ministry’s ability to implement targeted training and capacity-building programmes to bridge the skills and capacity gap within the ministry and its affiliated institutions.

The LEEP strategy will help the ministry focus on enhancing digital literacy to meet the demands of the evolving global job market.