By Agbongiasede Gloria Uhunoma
Franklin D.Roosevelt once said “no country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources. Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance. Morally, it is the greatest menace to our social order”.
The negative effects of unemployment, ranging from increase in crime rate, to increase in insecurity and all other social vices, remain the bane of society.
In 2022, the unemployment rate in Nigeria is estimated to have soared up to 33 percent, with the unemployment rate of Nigerians within the age bracket 25-34 estimated at 37.2 percent.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, four out of every 10 Nigerian youth who can work and are available to work, cannot find work.
Edo State under the leadership of Governor Godwin Obaseki, currently ranks as one of the viable and safest States to do business in Nigeria, and is making significant changes in the State’s labour market. Business and advisory firm, Vistern Partners Nigeria Limited, reports that Edo ranks high in terms of creating enabling environments for businesses to thrive.
This is evident in the State’s seamless business registration processes, tax administration, contract enforcement and dispute resolution, land administration and property registration, electricity supply to business clusters and areas, investment promotion and facilitation and the institutionalization of the ease of doing business.
Understanding that reducing the unemployment rate in any society is of utmost priority, the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration has continued to roll out initiatives and reforms that would generate employment for the teeming youths in the State.
Such initiatives as the Edo State Skills Development Agency (EdoJobs), Edo Innovation Hub, Edo Production Centre, the Sir Victor Uwaifo Creative hub and Sound Stage, among others, have gainfully engaged the majority of youths in the State.
The civil service in the State is not left out in areas where the expertise and skills of youths and professionals in the State are required.
The various reforms in the State’s civil and public service have also thrown open a large door of employment opportunities for experts who want to build a career in the State’s public service.
The State’s public service has conducted a series of recruitment exercises, with over 700 new intakes into the civil/public service in the previous year.
Currently there is an ongoing recruitment into the State’s civil service, where experts in various fields are expected to apply once they log on to the State’s Civil Service Commission’s Website at csc.edostate.gov.ng. Interested and qualified persons are admonished to log on to the website and submit their applications accordingly.
The Edo State Government is not relenting in its pursuit of creating more employment opportunities within the business circle and the public service, all geared towards the creation of jobs and effective service delivery for Edo people.
