THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2012
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NEWS
Struggling to In the last one year, the Goodluck Jonathan administration has tried, but unsuccessfully to grow the economy and create jobs for millions of skilled Nigerians, Deputy Business Editor SIMEON EBULU writes •From left: Chairman, Agric and Food Security Commission Mr. Emmanuel Ijewere, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, Chairman, Heirs Holdings Mr. Tony Elumelu and Chairman BGL Mr. Albert Okumagba during a seminar in commemoration of Democracy Day in Asaba... yesterday.
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ODAY makes it exactly one year since Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan took the oath of office as president of Nigeria. In his inaugural speech, Jonathan seemed aware of the task ahead. He spoke about the problems facing the economy, the lack of jobs for skilled Nigerians and the epileptic nature of public power supply. Expectedly, he promised to make all these things of the past. One year after, some are of the view that things have become worsened; others argue that it is all motion without movement; and some others have said one year is too short to expect the president to solve problems that accumulated over the past decade. Something, however, seems clear in all the opinions: there are problems waiting for the economy management team led by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to solve.
Employment generation
•Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Miss Nigeria 2011, Oluwafeyijimi Sodipo and THE governor's wife, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun during the home-coming ceremony and official decoration of Beauty Queen as Ogun State Youth Ambassador in Abeokuta...weekend
The former President, Institute Of Directors, Dr. Olusola Dada, said unemployment remains a sore point of this administration, and regretted that government has not done enough yet. He challenged the administration to tackle the menace, saying the increasing level of unemployment, especially among the youth is unacceptable. The Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, who has been an ardent crusader of the job creation policy of the administration, believes the administration is not sleeping o the matter. In pursuing the goal of getting Nigerians employed,
the Federal Government is seeking collaboration with the private sector and other critical segments of industry to make the jobs available, especially as they affect the youth, whose unemployment rate at the moment, is considered unhealthy. Over the past one year, the minister has used every fora to drum support for this project, advocating that a viable and thriving Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) regime is better suited to drive the initiative. At a meeting with the SME Desk Managers of the various financial institutions, he said the best way to checkmate the increasing rate of unemployment is to have a virile Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sub-sector of the economy, adding that in the developed economies, such as the United Kingdom, SMEs are the major employers of labour. Aganga said: “In the United Kingdom, their job creation strategy is heavily focused on SMEs. The assumption is that if they have four million SMEs and about half of those four million create a job every year, two million jobs will be created easily,” he said, adding that if only about a quarter of the 20 million SMEs in Nigeria create one job a year, that would mean about five million jobs created. Aganga said in the past year of the Jonathan’s administration, the results of new SMEs’ policies and schemes, in terms of job creation, have shown that given the necessary support, SMEs could provide the foundation for sustainable growth and poverty allevia-
Thumbs down for power supply •Lagos State Commissioner for Education Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye inaugurating the Rabiatu Thompson Memorial Primary School, Surulere rebuilt by Etisalat Nigeria under its Adopt-a-School initiative in Lagos. With her are: CEO, Etisalat Nigeria Mr. Steven Evans and member, Board of Directors, Etisalat Nigeria Mr. Kayode Sofola (SAN) PHOTO: NIYI ADENIRAN
For reasons ranging from unavailability of gas, non completion of power plants and sabotage, the Jonathan administration has been unable to give Nigerians enough light to run their lives and businesses, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU
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• From left: Patron, Nigeria-Britain Association, Mr. Philip Obe, Marketing Executive, British Airways Nigeria, Mrs. Nneka Ukay, President, Shuga Lim Foundation (SLF), Mr. Akinloye Tofowomo, Secretary of SLF, Mrs. Maria Tofowomo, President, Nigeria-British Association, Mr. Tunde Arogomati and Mrs. Abimbola Okoya, during a party the Chidren's Day celebrations...on Sunday. PHOTO: NIYI ADENIRAN
INCE Prof. Barth Nnaji assumed office last July as Minister of Power, eight top officials of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) have kissed their coveted seats bye. The last set include: Chief Executive Officer of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Akinwumi Bada, Market Operator Uzoma Achinanya and Executive Director of Human Resources, Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Olusoga Muyiwa. Nnaji, barely a month in office, eased out the chief executive officers of four electricity distribution companies. The affected CEOs are Justus Obilomo (Eko Distribution Company), Oladele Adeola (Ibadan Distribution Company), George Chiatula (Benin Distribution Company) and Kosiso Nwaoko (Jos Dis-
tribution). Nnaji replaced them with: Oladele Amoda (Eko ), Bolaji Mofoluso Oyesiku (Ibadan), Dr. Effiong Umoren (Benin), and Mrs. Vera Ngozi Osuhor (Jos). The CEOof Olorunsogo Generation Company, Mr. Mohammed Almu, also lost his job. He was sacked for his inability to articulate what was required to recover six of the eight turbines of the station that were out of work for years, which reduced the plant’s output from over 300MW to less than 50MW. One key factor in the sack of the eight big-wigs was their inability to advance the course of improving the power generation capacity of the country. The sack of Bada and co coincided with the sharp drop in power generation. Towards the end of last year,