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Our focus on agriculture is to create jobs – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday restated the commitment of his administration to create jobs for the youthful population of Nigeria.

He stated this during an audience with Guy Ryder, the Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Buhari said in the last four years, his government has prioritised Agriculture, Housing and Infrastructure development.

“Our focus in these areas was to create jobs today and ensure peace and equitable prosperity for future generations,” he said.

The President added that it was simply impossible to continue to import food with the nation’s population. “On agriculture, it was simple; a country with a population of close to 200 million has to be able to feed itself. We cannot rely on importing food,” he said.

He attributed some of the achievements of his government so far to consultations before taking critical decisions affecting the labour force:

“Our achievements to date were as a result of strategic fiscal and monetary policy decisions. In some instances, we partnered with stakeholders such as the labour unions.

“A good example was during the African Continental Free Trade Agreement review and the National Minimum Wage negotiations. This consultative approach aligns with the vision of the ILO to keep communications open, create jobs, ensure social justice and eliminate worker exploitation,” he said.

Earlier in his remarks, Mr Guy Ryder said he was in Nigeria to attend the Global Youth Employment Forum where over 60 countries have gathered to address practically the most pressing challenge of finding decent jobs for young people.

He also expressed the commitment of the Organization to existing partnership and cooperation with Nigeria. “We have worked with the Labour Ministry to prepare employment policies about youth employment, migration safety and health productivity. The focus is the practical implementation of these plans,” he said.

The president’s speech was also delivered by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, at the Global Youth Employment Forum (GYEF) in Abuja yesterday.

The forum had as its theme “Today and Tomorrow with Decent Jobs for Youth.”

Mustapha said the Buhari administration is focusing more attention on youth empowerment by creating the enabling environment for job opportunities and capacity building.