Nigeria must create 4 million jobs annually to ensure growth - Ambode

…Asks CBN to reduce lending rate on N200bn MSME fund

Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Saturday said for Nigeria to meet its growth ambitions and achieve full economic potential, concerted efforts must be made to create at least four million jobs annually and as well jettison policies that stifle development.

Speaking at the opening session of the 9th Annual Bankers’ Committee Retreat of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) held at Renaissance Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, Governor Ambode said it was time for the government to review such policies that inhibit growth, and as well come up with a well-functioning low cost financial system that will work for all Nigerians.

While describing the theme of the retreat – “Improving Financial Access, Enabling Job Creation and Driving Inclusive Growth in Nigeria,” as apt, the Governor said same was at the heart of the nation’s economy and are important determinants of the country’s future prosperity, but that all hands must be on deck to create more jobs for the people and ensure 6.7 per cent annual growth rate.

He said: “To meet our growth ambitions we need jobs. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in employment terms, from a labour force population of about 81million people, we currently have 11.5million people unemployed in Nigeria and 17million people under-employed with the total employment is around 52.6million while the working age population grows by 3.7 per cent every year. So, to make a meaningful dent on un-employment and underemployment, and to reduce poverty (which is at over 60 per cent), we need to be creating at least four million jobs per year.

“Where do banks fit into all of this? Well, the reality is if we do not have a well-functioning banking sector, all of this is not possible. Both investment and day-to-day commerce requires the intermediation of banks. And while someone outside of the formal financial sector can in some cases make a living, the reality is that incomes of the bottom of the pyramid are increased when we have better financial inclusion but we are not there yet.”

The Governor, who particularly alluded to the strategy adopted in Kenya to deepen financial inclusion, said efforts must be made to ensure low cost access to banking services especially through mobile money.

He said it was painful that mobile money had been so slow to take off in Nigeria despite huge population, saying it remained very low, increasing from just 0.7million adults in 2014 to 0.9million in 2016, despite the fact that there were about 58.2million people who actually had mobile phones in 2016.

Besides, Governor Ambode challenged the CBN, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Commission (NDIC), commercial banks and other players in the financial system to decide the type of financial system that will really impact on employment and bring more people into the formal financial system.

According to him, “This is where we should focus as a nation not the type of directives or decisions that actually try to stifle growth and commerce. One clear example is this; as a State Government, I want to take a commercial loan from the bank and they tell me I should go and get a letter from Debt Management Office (DMO); I should get approval from the Federal Ministry of Finance; I should go to CBN and so on. Who does that?

“You want to accelerate growth and everything that I am doing even when I take loan from the bank; when I do bond and so on, I am only trying to reflate the economy. Each construction site that you see in Lagos, I am trying to create employment at the lower level so that the artisans, the bricklayers and so on can go home with N5,000. I need to do something in Badagry to make the people stay there and not come to the central Lagos and when you take the extra money outside the IGR, you are actually trying to help the economy to reflate itself and that is why you are able to excite yourself with the growth that you have seen in the third quarter that we say is 1.5 but that is not the number that we want.

“So sometimes, government seems to shoot itself in the leg. Why should Lagos State go and be meeting DMO to say I want to take a commercial loan when 80 per cent of my IGR can pay the loan itself back? So, you see that there is some sense of homogeneity in the policies that we make but sometimes they are not really flexible and you end up coming back to say we want to create jobs but the things that create jobs are the things that we are actually working against and you create unnecessary competition in the system.”

Responding to earlier comment by the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele on the inability of the Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) to access the N200billion fund earmarked for them, Governor Ambode said the easiest way to achieve same was to reduce the lending rate to about five per cent or lower.

He said at the State level, his administration created the Employment Trust Fund through which about N10billion had been disbursed to the MSMEs at five per cent with over 6,000 benefiting so far, saying the CBN could replicate such at the federal level for the overall benefit of the people and the system.

Agege LG Partners Nollywood Super Star, Antar Laniyan

...To Empower Youths in Film Making, Acting and Audio-visual Productions

In a bid to ensure youths in Agege Local Government Area are gainfully and positively engaged, management of the council under the leadership of Alhaji Ganiyu Kola Egunjobi, is set to partner Veteran Nollwood actor, Antar Laniyan.

This was disclosed yesterday when Mr. Anta Laniyan paid courtesy visit on the Execuitve Chairman of Agege LG, Alhaji  Egunjobi.

Recall that Egunjobi, during his electioneering, had promised to design various empowerment programmes that would prevent youths from illicit and immoral engagements.

Agege Pulse reliably gathered that the partnership with the Nollywood star would take the youths out of the street through empowerment in the area of Art which includes acting, scripting writing, film making and audio-visual production.

Speaking at the meeting, Antar Laniyan said: "We want the youth to know their potential and what they are capable of doing because we started raw with little or no resources".

"The best time to achieve this is now that Agege Local government has an amiable chairman who is a good listener". Antar Laniyan concluded.

On his part, the chairman asserted that his administration is mostly interested in sustainable development of the youth, which is beyond giving peanuts to them.



In a brief chat with Agege Pulse, Antar Laniyan revealed that he spent part of his teenage years in Agege, hence understands the myraid of potential deposited in Agege youths.

He said the proposed youth empowerment initiative tagged: 'Annual Agege Youth Festival (AAYF),' would serve as a way of giving back to the community that made him.

Gov. Ambode Unveils Three Executive Boats, Four Jet Skis -AgegePulse

... Targets 2million passengers on water daily

...We‘ll Explore Tourism, Economic Potential Of Waterways, Says Ambode

Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Sunday inaugurated three newly acquired executive boats by the State Government, with a pledge to fully explore the tourism and economic potentials of the waterways in the State for the overall benefit of the people.

Speaking at the unveiling of the boats held at Caverton Jetty in Civic Centre area of Victoria Island, the Governor said the State Government was committed to the implementation of the integrated transport management system designed to scale up water, rail and land transportation, saying that the grand plan is to divert at least two million passengers on the waterways daily thereby reducing traffic on the road.

He said the boats and four Jet Skis recently acquired by the State Government to ensure safety and fight crime on the waterways were prelude to major plans to fully activate the potentials of water transportation, while in coming months, the State Government would take delivery of additional seven commercial ferries, among other plans for the sector.

According to him, “This is a significant day for Lagos State as we commission three boats belonging to the Lagos State Government. We discovered that sometimes, we do not have the ability for our officials to go on the waterways to address issues relating to people and citizens that live alongside the waterways.

“As you aware, twenty-five per cent of Lagos is water and it is important that we put in the right initiatives that can actually make activities on our waterways to thrive and the also people living along the waterways to bring them into proper perspective.

“Sometimes when dignitaries come from other States or countries, they are not able to see the true side of Lagos from waterways perspective and that is one of the reasons the State Government decided that we would procure the boats that would help us to promote tourism in the State so that people can see the great potentials of Lagos State,” he said.

Governor Ambode said as much was ongoing on road rehabilitation and construction, as well as the rail system, the water sector was also experiencing specific initiatives such as construction of terminals, channelization, construction of walkways, among others to encourage more people to key into the sector.

He said: “As people are well aware, we are committed to the integrated transport management system that we have promised Lagosians. As much as we are doing on the roads, we have decided that we would face the waterways. We have just ordered the procurement of seven ferries; we have also invited people from the private sector to take over terminals and also be able to procure their own boats and ferries.

“We are so particular about safety; we are so particular about the future of everyone and that is why we decided also that we would do a lot on channelization and dredging on waterways to make it motorable. People will begin to see all these at the end of the first quarter of 2018 and we believe strongly also that both the government boats and the ones from the private sector will start to berth the waterways of Lagos and we will use that to complement what it is that we have on our roads and also use it to complement the future of what we are trying to plan for the rail system.”

He added that over six million people walk every day on Lagos roads and that accounted for why walkways were being constructed across the State, while there are plans to create connectivity between water terminals and the roads, especially in Badore, Ajah, Mile 2, Badagry, Ikorodu and other places where there are terminals.

While stating that the maintenance and sustenance of the boats had been outsourced to specialists to ensure proper usage, Governor Ambode also invited more private sector stakeholders interested to invest in the waterways to partner with the State Government, saying his administration is liberal, transparent and willing to collaborate with interested investors.

In his opening remarks, Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Engr Adebowale Akinsanya said about thirty commercial routes on the State waterways have been identified for dredging and channelization, while ten jetties spread across the State were being constructed, among other ongoing plans for the sector.

He also said that the Ministry was working in concert with the Ministry of Justice to enforce relevant laws guiding the waterways to ensure compliance with safety standards and checkmate any illegal activity by operators.

Also speaking on safety plans for the waterways, General Manager of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Mr. Tiamiyu Adeshina said the Jet Skis would be deployed across the State to aid rescue operation in case of emergency, and also help to fight crime.

“Each of the Jet Skis has the capacity to carry two divers and the idea behind this is that when an incident occurred on the water, there is a Jet Ski that will move divers fast to the incident scene while the rescue boats are coming behind and when they get there, divers are dropping into the waters and as soon as they rescue people, we put them into the rescue boat and take them to hospital,” Adeshina said, just as he revealed  that training to that effect was already ongoing.

Also, the Managing Director of Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), Mr. Damilola Emmanuel, said the commissioning was the beginning of sustainable development for the waterways, adding that apart from efforts by the agency to enforce safety standards, the State Government has concluded plans to license 10 new operators who would provide better ferries.

The Governor also inspected ongoing projects on the waterways especially at Orange Island and Lekki Foreshore areas of the State.