Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu says the successes recorded of the Lagos State Employment Trust (LSETF) since its creation are capable of galvanising other states and corporate bodies towards redirecting energies to resolve the unemployment crisis in the economy.
He spoke at the maiden edition of the LSETF employment summit 2020 themed ‘showcasing leading practices in Job creation’, held Wednesday in Ikeja, where he charged representatives of state governments, organised private sector, and international development agencies to brainstorm on revolutionary job creation strategy for Nigeria’s young and productive population.
Represented by his commissioner for wealth creation and employment, Yetunde Arobieke, the governor said other states sure have lessons to learn from LSETF.
“Our various interventions in job creation have been instrumental to the 6.7 percent drop in the unemployment rate as recorded by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), making Lagos the state with the highest job creation record nationwide as at Q3, 2018,” Sanwo-Olu said.
Speaking further, he said: “Our utmost desire is to stimulate similar outcomes in every State in Nigeria. It is this underlining rationale and in partnership with the Nigeria Governor’s Forum, that we have come together to share ideas, case studies and success stories to reverberate these same energies and impact on a national scale.
“Through this summit, the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund and subject matter experts in the job creation space will identify challenges, showcase leading practices, share learnings and success stories that have helped in achieving job creation.”
Sanwo-Olu also reassured of his administration’s commitment to always provide entrepreneurs and productive population with the resources needed to work efficiently.
According to him, the purpose of every progressive government is to provide a working order that promotes a positive effect on the economy and impact prosperity.
He said with the reality of the growing population in Lagos, the need to provide the capacity to manage the citizens’ demands was paramount, adding that the state government will continue to devise strategies to address the challenges through such establishment as the state’s employment trust fund.
Chairman of the LSETF, Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru observed that the employment summit was necessary to showcase learning in job creation as well as global best practices to help in efforts to combat chronic unemployment situation in Nigeria.
“During this 2-day summit, I look forward to all of us learning, unlearning, relearning and taking back actionable points that would enable innovative ways to promote job creation through skills development, entrepreneurship, access to affordable funding and applied technology to our respective organisations,” she said.
Omoigui-Okauru added: “Since the inception of the Fund in 2016, LSETF has positioned itself as a pivotal force in reducing the rate of unemployment in Nigeria, by enabling capacity building for unemployed youth, providing support and access to finance for budding entrepreneurs thereby creating employment opportunities for Lagos residents.”
The acting executive secretary of the LSETF, Teju Abisoye urged the public and private organisations to support the trust fund’s quest to put young people to jobs. She thanked the partners and sponsors, which include BusinessDay Media Limited, for their valuable contributions towards hosting a successful summit.
Other partners include IBM, Harambee Youth Accelerator South Africa, FCMB, Tek Experts, GIZ, Eko Innovation Centre (EIC), Jobberman, International Breweries, Coca-Cola, ILO, Workforce Group, PIND Foundation Stanbic IBTC, among others.
JOSHUA BASSEY & GBEMI FAMINU
