President Buhari Reiterates Govt's Commitment to Job Creation

His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, President, Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces Federal Republic of Nigeria

The President, Commander in Chief, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has reiterated his administration's commitment to making job creation a priority agenda for the teeming youths of the country. He stated this in his Keynote Address, with the theme, “Entrepreneurship for Development”, on Saturday, 12 December, 2015, at the Second Convocation Ceremony of the Kaduna State University (KASU), Kaduna, where he was the Special Guest of Honour. President Buhari stressed that his administration would support all efforts aimed at creating more jobs by the re-orientation of Nigerian youths on Entrepreneurship which, he said, was a potent tool for the attainment of the Federal Government's objectives of improved security and poverty reduction. In his words, “This administration will ensure that youths in the country are gainfully employed and youth restiveness curtailed. One of the focal points of this administration is job creation. Job creation will help in the achievement of other objectives of the Government such as poverty reduction and security,which are some of the challenges this administration is confronted with. Insecurity cannot be divorced from unemployment and poverty because an idle mind, they say, is the devil's workshop.” The President observed that with declining revenue due to the fall in the price of crude oil, it was necessary to seek for alternative sources of revenue by diversifying the economy. According to him, “One of the ways we can achieve this is through the reorientation of our youths towards an entrepreneurial mindset. We must, therefore, promote and enhance the teaching and learning of entrepreneurial skills in all schools and tertiary institutions, thereby exposing our youths to the basics and rudiments of starting and sustaining their own businesses”. To enable the youths contribute meaningfully to the nation's economy, President Buhari promised that his administration would sustain and improve the on-going programmes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), the Bank of Industry (BoI), the Bank of Agriculture and other Federal agencies, to grant them start-up loans at concessionary rates. He also called on the private sector to support Government's efforts to boost youth entrepreneurship and the development of micro, small and medium scale enterprises in the country, adding that it was in a bid to address youth unemployment, that the Federal Government, through the National Universities Commission (NUC), made it mandatory for all universities to teach entrepreneurship skills, so that graduates could become jobcreators rather than job-seekers. In his address, the Visitor and Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufa'i, while eulogising the successes of the Institution so far recorded in the area of Entrepreneurship, gave the assurance that the State Government would continue to support all the stateowned tertiary institutions by increasing their annual grants and employing additional staff. Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Barnabas Quirix, disclosed that out of the 4,000 graduands, 38 bagged First Class in various disciplines, adding that the Ceremony was a combined Convocation from 2012 to 2015 sessions. He charged the graduands to be focused in their future endeavours and to be good ambassadors of the Institution, adding that KASU had continued to strive for excellence in all its activities. The highlight of the Convocation was the conferment of honourary doctorate degrees on President Buhari, Mall. El-Rufai and Alh. Aliko Dangote.