Lack of funds hindering creation of job centres in Lagos

Member, Lagos State House of Assembly, Ikeja Constituency 1, Folajimi Lai-Mohammed, has cited paucity of funds as hindering the creation of job centres in the state.

The job centres, according to him, will help Nigeria stop the importation of available labour force currently being lost to neighbouring countries, maintaining that more than the average number of labour is being imported into the country.

Speaking at a constituency stakeholders’ meeting, tagged: “Post-COVID-19 Pandemic: The challenges and prospects,” he said: “If the funds are available, we need to create job centres in all the constituencies. At least in all the 57 local governments and the LCDAs combined together. People should be able to wake up in the morning and go to the job centres in their local government which is the grass root of the people. We need a place where we can match-make employees and employers.

He said in its collaborative efforts to stem the tide of the pandemic and bring a new lease of life to Lagosians, the House, being the embodiment of the representatives, approved about N20 billion COVID-19 intervention fund, aimed at containing and managing the spread of the virus in the state as well as mitigate its effect on the residents.

According to him, the legislative support coupled with individual palliative efforts of the lawmakers in their various constituencies have had a great impact on the successes recorded so far in the fight to effectively contain the ravaging disease.

He said there is no gainsaying that Nigeria and Lagos State in particular is currently facing three shocks of the pandemic: dwindling oil and tax revenue, contraction in global trade, and economic recession, stressing that these realities, coupled with the recent youth unrest are negatively impacting on the state economy. This underscores the need for Nigeria to rethink its revenue generation model as a top priority to keep the Lagos economy afloat.

He said: “This, in tackling the socioeconomic challenges posed by the pandemic, individuals are encouraged to look into the effective management of the various post-pandemic opportunities such as business creation by exploring e-commerce, adapting to the new ICT potential, acquiring relevant skills or education, while the government must also invest more in e-governance to facilitate a more efficient and robust governance.”

He assured that the 9th Assembly would continue to do everything within its reach to bring governance closer to the people to enable participatory governance, urging citizens to continue to support the government by performing their civic roles.