The government created 8 million blue collar jobs in 3 years- Ngige

diamond hope

January 8, 2018 12:08 PM

The Minister of Labour and Employment has explained that the government is paying attention to job creation.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, said over the weekend when addressing journalists at the ceremony to introduce the project of a specialist skill acquisition center in Ifitedunu, Anambra State that the president Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government created over eight million jobs in less than three years.

He also explained that while these jobs that were created are mostly blue collar jobs, they are the jobs that make up most of the main hub of employment in the nation currently.

Ngige said that farming, carpentry, bricklaying, tiling and many others make up the blue collar jobs which the federal government is now using to save youths from joblessness which is caused by the lack of white collar jobs.

Ngige also explained the reason behind the government supporting blue jobs

The minister said because of the huge employment potential in the blue collar jobs, the federal government decided to build centers where it would give youths of all educational qualification different levels of training that would help them secure jobs.

He said that "There are no white collar jobs any longer. If you are waiting for one, you will wait for a long time. People are now finding employment in the blue collar jobs, and it is even more profitable. How many of you are aware that the day pay for carpenters and other artisans have increased? In Abuja, they collect as high as N10,000. If they get jobs even if it is five times a month, do you know how much that is? How many white collar jobs pay that?"

Ngige said the unavailability of artisans was because most of them have gone to farm, and there is a need to train a new generation of tillers, builders, and people in other crafts.

"In farming alone, this government has generated lots of jobs. You eat Anambra rice here, others eat Abakaliki rice, in Abuja I eat Kano rice and even Imo too has come up with theirs. All these bring employment", he said.

This comes at a time when most Nigerians are still reeling over the lack of interest shown by the government as unemployment rates has continued to rise.

diamond hope

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