Unemployed youth in Lagos State, on Friday, called on the state government to increase its commitment to creating more jobs.
The commissioner of special duties, Tola Kasali, apparently stirred the hornets' nest when he announced, during a press briefing at the State House on Friday, that the state's job registration centres in the state recorded just 219 engagements for the over 175,000 registered unemployed University, Polytechnic, and Senior Secondary School Certificate holders.
"Out of the 175,000 registered unemployed youth in our databanks, 219 were placed in some organisations last year," Mr. Kasali said.
He also announced that the state government has established 10 more job registration centres to add to the existing 10, adding that a computer data bank of registered candidates would soon be set up and made accessible to interested employers in the private sector.
Responding to this, some unemployed youth in the state criticised what they called the poor performance rate of the government job centres, and questioned the reasons for building more job centres when existing ones had performed poorly.
"I personally didn't register at any job centre because I knew it would be useless," said Korode Akpata, a 2006 graduate of Accountancy.
"How can they record only 219 placements out of 175,000? It is meaningless and portrays the government as not really serious about reducing unemployment." Mr. Akpata said.
Another respondent, Johnson Ukong, agreed that the prevailing global economic recession might have affected employment rates but urged the government to be more committed to creating a suitable business environment for young entrepreneurs.
"I know the global crisis might have affected the private sector from employing more people this year, but the government should not just rely on banks and telecom companies to employ," he said.
"Government should assist in industrialisation by making loans more attractive to prospective businesses," Mr. Ukong added.
In his speech, Mr. Kasali announced that the government would intensify its commitment to creating more job opportunities by organising skill acquisition centres.
He also announced that industrial equipment would be made available for prospective entrepreneurs.
"The Job Opportunity Centre, Igando, was established to actualise government's efforts on job creation and youth empowerment by providing a multi-vocational centre for the facilitation of regular skill acquisition training programmes," he said.
"The centre will also provide basic and industrial equipment for use at a token charge for the indigent artisans who are unable to equip themselves with essential working tools to enable them earn a decent livelihood," he said.