Minister seeks increased budgetary allocation for job creation

Charges stakeholders to resolve EDO NLC crisis

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Dingyadi, said the ministry needed increased funding to scale up the performance of key areas of its mandates.
He said the fund would be particularly used to renovate, reconstruct and re-equip the skills development centres under the ministry and its agencies across the country, aimed at generating employment.

Dingyadi stated this at the 2025 budget defence meeting with the House Committee, and the Senate Committee. He said that the total budgetary allocation of N46 billion for the ministry and its parastatals this year would not be sufficient to attain set objectives.

The minister maintained that skill development programmes would generate sustainable job opportunities for individuals, which would ultimately promote national economic growth.

Dangyadi stressed that creating jobs through skill development is crucial to achieving part of the federal government’s agenda. The minister explained: “One of the key priorities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda is job creation, which falls under the Ministry of Labour and Employment. For us to achieve this noble objective, we need special funds to renovate, reconstruct, and re-equip the skills development centres under the ministry and its agencies across the country.

“We are aware that many of the infrastructural projects in this year’s budget can be used to create jobs for our teeming youths. However, over 60% of such jobs are unskilled jobs that are not sustainable. Once the project is completed, many of them will go back to becoming unemployed.

“The best solution to unemployment is the creation of skilled jobs with starter packs, where trainees will set up their self-sustaining jobs to contribute to the economic growth of the nation,” the Minister said.

On his part, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity, Diket Plang, stated that the ministry deserved a boost to its budgetary allocation to enable it to function effectively.

Also, the Chairman of the House Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity, Adefarati Adegboyega, emphasised the significant role of skill development in the economic growth of the nation. He noted that sustainable employment programmes, such as skill development, would provide a permanent solution to unemployment, unlike occasional palliatives that only offer temporary relief.

In the meantime, the Minister also has urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to resolve its internal conflict within the Edo State chapter to prevent further escalation.

The Edo State Council of the NLC has accused the state government of interfering in the union’s affairs, including a police invasion of its premises. To address the crisis, the minister has met with the national and the Edo State chapter executives of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Abuja.

He appealed for understanding between the two factions, said to be backed by the national body of the NLC and the Edo State government, respectively. Dingyadi encouraged the NLC to use its internal mechanisms to settle the dispute.

The minister added that he would send a delegation, comprising the Congress’ national leaders and top Ministry officials, to the Edo State government to find a lasting solution to the dispute.

Earlier, the Deputy General Secretary of NLC, Ismail Bello, had condemned the Edo State government’s unwarranted interference in the union’s internal affairs. He claimed that the state government used its law enforcement agencies to invade their offices and harass and intimidate union officials. Bello urged the Federal Government to intervene and restrain the Edo State government from meddling in the union’s internal matters.