President Muhammadu Buhari declared Saturday in Kaduna that job creation
will remain one of the topmost priorities of his administration’s economic
agenda because it was vital for the attainment of the Federal Government’s
other objectives of improved security and poverty reduction.
Speaking at the 2nd Convocation ceremony of the Kaduna State University
which had “Entrepreneurship for Development” as its theme, President
Buhari pledged that his administration will give the fullest possible
support to all efforts to create more jobs through the reorientation of
Nigerian youth towards an entrepreneurial mindset.
“This administration will ensure that youths in the country are gainfully
employed and youth restiveness curtailed.
“One of the focal points of this administration is job creation. Job
creation will help in the achievement of other objectives of the
government such as poverty reduction and security which are some of the
challenges this administration is confronted with. Insecurity cannot be
divorced from unemployment and poverty because an idle mind, they say, is
the devil’s workshop.
“With declining internally generated revenue and over dependence on the
equally declining oil revenues, there is need to seek other ways of
diversifying the economy so as to boost revenue.
“One of the ways we can achieve this is through the reorientation of our
youths towards an entrepreneurial mindset. We must therefore promote and
enhance the teaching and learning of entrepreneurial skills in all schools
and tertiary institutions, thereby exposing our youth to the basics and
rudiments of starting and sustaining their own businesses,” President
Buhari told the gathering.
The President said that to encourage and assist Nigerian youth to move
from being job seekers to job creators, his administration will sustain
and improve ongoing programmes by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Small
and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, the Bank of
Industry, the Bank of Agriculture and other Federal agencies to grant them
start-up loans at concessionary rates.
President Buhari urged the Nigerian private sector to also do more to
support government’s efforts to boost youth entrepreneurship and the
development of micro, small and medium scale enterprises in the country.
He thanked the University for conferring an honourary doctorate degree
of letters on him.