FG drafts bill to provide 2 million jobs annually ...

Dr Olusegun Aganga, Minister of Trade and Investment

The Presidential Jobs Board is drafting a National Jobs Bill aimed at fast-tracking government’s efforts toward creating two million jobs for Nigerians yearly.

The Minister of Trade and Investments, Dr Olusegun Aganga, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the Board meeting, chaired by Vice-President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.

According to him, wide consultations are ongoing to fine-tune the draft bill before it is forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration and passage.

He said that about 1.4 million jobs were being created every year.

He, however, stated that the Board was mindful of President Goodluck Jonathan’s marching orders on the Board to work with the private sector to make available minimum of two million jobs to Nigerians annually.

To this end, he said that the Board, during the meeting, brought to the attention of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) the various employment incentives put in place since 2010 for private sector employers.

“We have the employment tax incentive where you employ at least 10 employees and six out of the 10 remain employed in three years, you get the tax incentive of about five per cent of your accessible profit for that period.

“There is incentive for work experience acquisition Programme and then local raw material utilisation where you get 30 per cent tax concession for five years, to industries that attain minimum local raw materials utilization,” he said.

According to Aganga, the Federal Government is setting up public job centres in all the state capitals through which job seekers could be adequately informed of available opportunities. PM NEWS