The Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Dingyadi, has urged for an increase in the ministry’s 2025 budget allocation to enable it to fulfill critical aspects of its mandate, particularly in job creation and skills development.
Dingyadi made this appeal during budget defense meetings with the House and Senate Committees on Employment, Labour, and Productivity in Abuja. According to a statement released on Monday by the ministry’s Head of Press and Public Relations, Patience Onuobia, the minister highlighted the need for greater funding to renovate, reconstruct, and re-equip the skills development centers managed by the ministry and its agencies nationwide.
He explained that the current allocation of N46 billion for the ministry and its parastatals would not suffice to meet its goals.
“One of the key priorities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda is job creation, which falls under the Ministry of Labour and Employment,” Dingyadi stated. “For us to achieve this noble objective, we need special funds to renovate, reconstruct, and re-equip the skills development centres under the ministry and its agencies across the country.”
Dingyadi emphasized the importance of creating skilled, sustainable jobs to address unemployment, as opposed to temporary unskilled opportunities tied to infrastructure projects.
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“We are aware that many of the infrastructural projects in this year’s budget can be used to create jobs for our teeming youths. However, over 60% of such jobs are unskilled jobs that are not sustainable. Once the project is completed, many of them will go back to becoming unemployed.
“The best solution to unemployment is the creation of skilled jobs with starter packs, where trainees will set up their own self-sustaining jobs to contribute to the economic growth of the nation,” he added.
The minister’s appeal received support from lawmakers during the budget defense meetings. Senator Diket Plang, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour, and Productivity, affirmed that the ministry deserved an enhanced budget to effectively execute its functions.
Similarly, Adefarati Adegboyega, Chairman of the House Committee on Employment, Labour, and Productivity, underscored the critical role of skill development in driving economic growth.
“Sustainable employment programmes, such as skill development, provide a permanent solution to unemployment, unlike occasional palliatives that only offer temporary relief,” Adegboyega noted.
The push for increased funding highlights the government’s recognition of the need for long-term solutions to Nigeria’s unemployment crisis. If approved, the budgetary boost could significantly enhance the ministry’s capacity to create jobs, empower youths with marketable skills, and contribute to the nation’s economic growth.