The Honourable Minister of State Labour and Employment, James Ocholi SAN, has called on African Development Bank to include in its project implementation activities in Nigeria the accommodation of local content thereby giving room for indigenous engineers in project implementation.James Ocholi stated this in Abuja today when he received a delegation from the African Development Bank (ADB) led by the Director of the Bank, Pitamber Sunita.
The Minister added that the main thrust of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is job creation for the teeming unemployed youths, to this end; he expressed the Ministry’s readiness to partner with the Bank to create job opportunities for the unemployed and under employed.
Speaking further, James Ocholi stressed that one critical area of assistance that ADB could be of assistant to Nigeria in its efforts at job creation is in the area of vocational skills and capacity building.
The Minister re-affirmed that government alone cannot create jobs, he emphasized that President Muhammadu Buhari is redoubling efforts to ensure that the campaign promises he made to Nigerians are delivered, most especially in the area of job creation and tackling of terrorism.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr .Clement Illoh sought the support of ADB in critical arrears such as provision of social protection and safety nets, skills development and productivity enhancement, social inclusion, poverty reduction, Issues of child labour and child trafficking which are all critical to the present administration.
Earlier, the Leader of the delegation from the African Development Bank, Pitamber Sunita explained that the purpose of their visit was to acquaint themselves with the plans of the Ministry and the Federal Government of Nigeria in the areas of Job creation and to offer their support to the federal government efforts this regard.
Samuel Olowookere,
Deputy Director (Press)
