Can 10 million jobs be created in this economy in 12 months?

Can 10 million jobs be created in this
economy in 12 months?
am in business news
*No! Yes! Experts disagree
BY UDEME CLEMENT
The pronouncement by the Minister of Finance and
the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr (Mrs)
Ngozi Okonjoi Iweala that 10million jobs  would be
created, in the economy in 2014 has generated
divergent views.
While some economic experts said that the time-
line is not realistic, others expressed optimism that
government can achieve the target, if the economy
is diversified into non-oil export sectors like
agriculture, manufacturing, industry as well as
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The experts
opinions:
Government needs creative and dynamic
entrepreneurship to create jobs-Registrar,
International Logistics and Administration, Mr. Mark
Iloh:
Unemployment and poverty are among the major
challenges facing Nigeria and other developing
economies today. We need creative and dynamic
entrepreneurship techniques to tackle poverty and
create jobs. Dynamic entrepreneurs who can take
risk in productive industries rather than commerce
will play a major role in promoting economic growth
and sustainable development now and in the long-
run.
For a country to develop,, there must be high-risk
takers who can make large scale investments in
industries to bring direct impact on the growth rate
of the economy, and not only engaging in economic
activities that can multiply wealth within the short-
run, without actually registering its effect on growth
and job creation.
“In developing countries for instance, investors are
mostly found in commerce, buying, selling and
importing products to make fast money, without
taking the risk to build factories and invest in
manufacturing industries, which are economic
activities capable of creating jobs for the masses.
This is as a result of poor attitude to high risk taking
and innovation.
Today, few industries in the developing countries
are owned by foreigners. The economic implication
is that the expected benefits of these foreign firms
can not be registered in the economies where they
operate, as owners interest are at variance with the
host country and profits are repatriated back to
their countries of origin.
The vicious cycle of poverty is another challenge
that must be addressed pragmatically. Poverty is
another major factor hindering growth in developing
countries. The less developed countries are caught
up in the web of poverty. This is due to low per
capita income, which leads to low demands, low
savings, which leads to low investments and in turn
low capital formation, which paves the way for low
productivity.
The resultant effect of low productivity is low
income and this runs continuously, except there is
a conscious effort to break this cycle, development
will continue to be a mirage. For us to achieve
relative full employment, the issue of human capital
must also be addressed. For example. we need
good education and skill-training necessary to
make the youths more productive.
Government should diversify the economy into non-
oil export sectors – a former Chairman, Agriculture,
Non-oil Export Trade Group, Lagos Chambers of
Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture
(LACCIMA), Dr. Godwin Oyedele Oyediji: Today,
over 50 per cent of our population engage in small
scale agriculture across the country. We need
modern and large scale agriculture like what
obtains in advanced economies to create jobs.
As such, government needs to diversify the
economy into agriculture, manufacturing and non-
oil export sectors to enhance capacity utilisation.
This is imperative because resources in non-oil
sectors, particularly agriculture can boost
sustainable growth, if they are adequately
harnessed. Also, various economic activities in
agriculture, which include planting, harvesting and
transportation of farm produce among other
activities can create jobs, not only for the youths,
but for other people in Nigeria.
For us to create sufficient jobs, other issues like
human capital development, trade and investments
in the real sector must be addressed to enhance
optimum growth. These are important issues that
are relevant to economic transformation agenda of
the Federal Government.
Aside from job creation, agriculture must be given
the desired attention to ensure food security for the
country. All over the world, agriculture is an
important sector because it allows sustainable
growth of the economy. We can also achieve that in
Nigeria, if the sector is well funded. We will derive
numerous economic benefits in turning attention to
agriculture, because it will discourage the
budgetary system that centers on revenue from
crude oil, which we do no have control over the
price and demand from the international market.
I have said this before and will still repeat that, If
adequately funded, the sector can create about
500.000 jobs annually. The reason being that
agriculture has short and long term economic
benefits, which are needed in the rural and urban
areas. Looking at the aggregate economic analysis,
about 70 million Nigerians are into agriculture
currently. These figures include direct and indirect
labour work-force in the sector. T
his is because employment generation in this
sector is often classified under skilled, semi-skilled
and unskilled labour. This implies that with the
population of over 160million people, agriculture can
take 50 per cent of the entire work-force of Nigeria,
noting fully well that 50 per cent of Nigeria’s
population are youths from 15 years and above.
Agriculture can also generate revenue as additional
source of income-flow in the economy”.
Government should boost industrial growth to
create jobs –  Mrs. Gloria Joseph, operator of small
enterprise at Oshodi Market, Lagos: Creation of jobs
in a developing economy like Nigeria with a
population of over 160million requires massive
industrial growth. The truth is that government
alone does not have to capacity to create jobs for
every citizen, but if an enabling business
environment is provided for industries to spring up,
the unemployment rate, which currently stands at
about 24 per cent can reduce drastically.
Recently, the Federal Government launched the
Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) and the
National Enterprise Development Programme
(NEDEP), aimed at boosting the annual revenue for
Nigerian manufacturers up to N5 trillion.
Government must ensure effective implementation
of this Plan and close monitoring in order to
stimulate industrial development and job creation
for the masses.
President Goodluck Jonathan, explained during the
launch that NEDEP is a comprehensive
industrialisation programme based on key areas
where our economy has competitive advantage in
agriculture, solid minerals, oil and gas among other
areas, where Nigeria can be the number one in
Africa and top 10 globally. For me, this is a good
Plan, capable of creating thousands of jobs, if
adequately implemented to achieve the intended
purpose.