Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole has described the Federal Government’s Monetary policies as too injurious to job creation, stating that investors and employers of labour would be discouraged to set up businesses when interest rates are very high.
The governor spoke yesterday at the Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi-led Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) retreat in Port Harcourt.
Oshiomhole, while contributing to a paper titled, “Overview of the state of Unemployment in Nigeria,” blamed high level of unemployment on faulty monetary policy and lack of electricity, adding, “It is like telling someone to live long and then giving him poison.
“How can you create jobs by pricing money out of the reach of investors in the name of achieving market stability.
According to him, there was the urgent need for the private sector to drive employment at all levels of government as the Government only cannot achieve it, adding, “Two things drive the private sector, money and infrastructure.
“Governments, including the Edo State government, will never be able to employ everyone. Even if I devote all the resources of Edo State to create jobs.
Oshiomole stressed the need for the provision of power if Nigeria must drive the economy, noting that companies like Michelin, Bata, textile firms in Aba had closed down because of lack of power.
“There is a limit to what we can do as governors without power,” the governor stated.
“In Bangladesh, a small country, 60 percent of their total earnings come from textile industries, creating millions of jobs,” he added.
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