Policy Inconsistency Responsible For Youth Unemployment, Says Presidential Aide

Youth unemployment in the country is as a result of policy summersaults, the Presidency said yesterday.

This was stated by the Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation, Mrs Josephine A. Washima, when she visited the national headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja.

She, however, noted that President Goodluck Jonathan’s insistence on the completion of projects in the transportation, power, agricultural and textile sectors had created jobs for Nigerians.

“This government inherited most of the challenges of this country, and you don’t expect these challenges to disappear in less than three years, even in seven years. So, it is something that we have to look at very critically”, she said.

The president’s aide also called on Nigerian youths to take advantage of government’s employment generating activities, pointing out that a conducive environment was being created for a private sector-driven economy in Nigeria as it obtains in many countries.

“I had the opportunity of being in Rwanda last year to discuss unemployment in Sub-Saharan Africa. And one of the issues that one of the professors from Botswana discussed that I picked up was political economy of youth unemployment. In this regard, we are talking of lack of continuity of programmes and activities that are created by a different administration that would eventually lead to economic and sustainable development. When those activities are not continued, an administration comes in and starts new activities. It’s just like you start to build a house, I come in and take over that building, break it down and somebody else comes in, takes over the building and breaks it down, it becomes very difficult. These are very common things that happen in our day-to-day activities”, she said.