Informal sector key to job creation – Ngige

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has said that formalisation of the informal sector of the economy is one of the cardinal approaches of the federal government at combating the menace of unemployment in the country.

The minister stated this when the national executives of the Association of Vulcanizers of Nigeria, FCT chapter led by the state chairman, Comrade Lawal Mohammed Okokore, visited him Thursday in Abuja.

He said vulcanising for example is an important self-employed informal occupation as it involves skills thereby contributing to the federal government’s effort at reducing unemployment.

Ngige emphasised that government alone could not create the needed jobs, adding that the era of white collar jobs was gone.

“We made a commitment not to retrench but we are interested in de-emphasizing youths dependence on limited white collar jobs.

“We rather encourage them to embrace blue collar jobs in agriculture, mining as well as in trades like vulcanizing,’’ he maintained.

He urged the association to avail its members of the opportunity provided by the various skills acquisition centres of the ministry as well as key into the skills acquisition programmes of the National Directorate of Employment.

“This ministry has eight specialised skills centres spread across the geo-political zones, your members can go there and get advanced skills in vulcanising for free and be certified with trade test certificate which is equivalent to the City and Guild of past,” he said.

The state chairman of the association, Comrade Okokore, said majority of technicians in Nigeria, including vulcanisers, lacked modern skills and equipment to ply their trades.

He urged the minister to support the association through training and workshops, easy and direct access to modern equipment and accessories as well as soft loans to artisans and technicians.