FGN to Create 460,000 Jobs through Growth Employment Project

The Federal Government of Nigeria is targeting 460,000 jobs at the minimum in the next four years through the Growth and Employment Project Scheme.

 

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, stated this on Thursday 22^nd February, 2014, in Abuja during the inauguration of an eight-member steering committee for the GEM project. Aganga said the project was aimed at enhancing job creation and increasing non-oil growth in specific high-potential value chain sectors, and would help to create 110,000 direct and 350,000 indirect jobs

 

The committee is chaired by the Minister, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, with members drawn from the ministries of Finance, Information, Communications Technology, Culture and Tourism, and Agriculture and Rural Development, as well as the National Orientation Agency.

 

Aganga revealed that the committee was critical to enhancing inclusive economic growth through job creation and wealth generation.

 

He said, “The GEM project is very important to the Federal Government and the Nigerian economy. It is an employment project by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, supported by the World Bank and the United Kingdom Department for International Development.

 

“The World Bank is providing a loan of about $160m, while the DFID is providing a grant of about $100m. The project is aimed at job creation and increased non-oil growth in specific high potential value chain sectors.

 

The GEM project was conceptualized after the conduct of the Growth Poll Studies in 2007. The study identified key sectors with potential growth in the economy and with high potential to generate a lot of jobs. “This is what the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan and the National Enterprise Development Programme, which were launched by President Goodluck Jonathan recently, seek to achieve.”

Aganga said. He also pointed out that his Ministry’s working with the World Bank and DFID had already identified eight key sectors with potential for generating employment, adding that the impact of the implementation of the GEM scheme would be felt in no distant future.