The minister claims Nigerians think blue collar jobs are beneath their status and don’t show up enough for vocational trainings.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, believes Nigerias high unemployment rate can be greatly reduced if more Nigerians embrace blue collar jobs that are largely neglected.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), unemployment rate in Nigeria stood at a staggering 23.1% at the end of Q3, 2018.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), unemployment rate in Nigeria stood at a staggering 23.1% at the end of Q3, 2018.
When confronted with the worrying unemployment statistics during an interview on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, Ngige said more Nigerians have to be open to the idea of skills acquisition rather than just white collar jobs.
He noted that the Federal Government has an established vocational skills policy, but that Nigerians think blue collar jobs are beneath their status.
He said, “It (unemployment) was an issue and that was why we did an advocacy and told people not to look at only the white collar jobs. There are blue collar jobs. Skills. You have to train your hands. You have to do plumbing, carpentry, tailoring.
“We had to do the vocational skills policy. The NDE (National Directorate of Employment), one of my parastatals, has at least three or four vocational skills programmes.
“We have our specialist skills centres in Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Bauchi, Calabar, Warri, Enugu, and all over the federation.
“We now have many in collaboration with the state governments. We send them people to train them. And people come in there as apprentice and after we finish with them, we empower them.
“But the problem is that, how many people are ready to come there and train?
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