Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator
Chris Ngige, has stated that President
Muhammadu Buhari will not be in a hurry to
sign the 2016 national budget into law until all
grey areas and mistakes are sorted out and
corrected by the National Assembly.
The national assembly had a fortnight ago sent
the passed 2016 appropriation bill to the
President for his assent for it become law.
But penultimate week, the President withheld
assent even as accusations of removal of certain
projects like the Lagos-Calabar rail line became
rife.
Speaking at a programme to resettle graduates
of vocational skills development in Anambra
State at the weekend, Ngige said there could be
mistakes in the budget, but that the national
assembly should summon the courage to correct
them where they are detected.
He called on well-meaning Nigerians to rally
round the federal government in its quest to
turn around the fortunes of the country.
He said the Buhari administration sort of
started afresh on all parameters; having come
on board when the price of crude oil that sold
for above $100 per barrel suddenly nose-dived
to about $40 per barrel and almost every other
sector of per barrel and almost every other
sector of the economy remained comatose.
Previous budgets he said were done at a
benchmark of $70 per barrel, a situation that
saw a growth in the excess crude account.
“There could be mistakes but the National
Assembly should be man enough to correct them
if noticed. The President will not sign the
budget until all mistakes are streamlined,” he
said.
The minister said the federal government had
through the Federal Ministry of Labour and
Employment and the activities of the National
Directorate of Employment vigorously pushed
the frontiers of providing decent and
sustainable jobs for the unemployed.
A total of thirty persons received equipment
and a micro loan of N20,000 to start small
business received fresh impetus to continue
creating wealth, sustainable and decent jobs in
the state.
But Ngige said over 2,800 new businesses would
have been generated across 17 other states in
the country where the graduate scheme took
place simultaneously.
Another 1,850 persons he said are being trained
nation-wide under the Community Based
Training (CBT) scheme.
This number of persons he hinted would be
resettled in the next two months to start small
scale businesses in the moral communities
across the country.
Today.ng
0 comments:
Post a Comment