By Monday Ajogun
Edo governor Godwin Obaseki says he has so far created 157,000 jobs out of the 200,000 he promised the state.
Obaseki made the disclosure in his speech at the 2019 Alaghodaro Youth Summit in Benin on Monday.
“I have done what many politicians will not do; during my campaign, I promised to create a minimum 200,000 jobs within my first term, through the Edo Skills Development Agency (Edojobs).
“Politicians won’t give themselves such targets in case they don’t meet it.
“If government gives the youths the needed support, you will see that 200,000 jobs will be a piece of cake.
“Today, I am glad and happy that at the last count, we have created 157,000 jobs in Edo,” he said.
The governor said that facts about the jobs were available for anyone to verify.
“It is not just me saying it; you can find this in a publication – Business Day.
“They undertook an independent evaluation and told me that the skills development agency was able to create 45, 000 through job tracking.
“From the records, 3,500 jobs were created through jobs matching and placement, 23,000 jobs through Edo Innovation Jobs, 1,300 jobs from Edo food and agricculture cluster, and 15,000 jobs from Edo Production Centre.
“We have also created 12,000 jobs from the National Social Investment Programme, 10,000 from the Ministry of Wealth Creation, and 32,000 indirect jobs. The data is all there and you can verify them,” he said.
The governor said that his administration was out to change the narrative and mindset that education was all about certificate.
“The introduction of Edojobs was to help the youth to retrace their direction in life,” he said.
Obaseki assured the people that government was keen on improving their standards of living, adding that human development had remained the focus because that was key to growth and prosperity.