LCCI Tackles Unemployment, Sets Up Employment Bureau
By Duruoha Ferdinand
 10th NOV 2006

Apparently worried by the growing unemployment and under employment rates in the economy, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has set up an Employment Bureau at the Trade Fair Complex, Badagry Expressway.

“We intend after the Trade Fair to develop this into a full fledge service for employers at various levels. We are doing this in realization that lack of information is a factor in the current unemployment crises. We would develop an information databank of the unemployed (which shall be updated periodically) and avail prospective employers the opportunity of assessing the information at a minimal fee. A desk has been designated at our information center at this Fair Ground for this purpose,” said the President of the Chamber, Dr. Herbert Ademola Ajayi.
He said the essence of establishing the bureau is to match job seekers with employers willing and ready to offer job opportunities.

The decision by the premier chamber for setting up the bureau was in response to stakeholders yearning, noting that over the years, the Chamber has observed with grave concern the enormity of the problem manifesting itself graphically during the annual trade fairs, with thousands of the unemployed youths swarming the fair site for temporary or permanent jobs.
The situation, he stated, poses a clear and present danger to the social and economic stability of the country.

Commenting on the theme of the 2006 Fair, “Harnessing the opportunities and benefits of economic reforms”, the President said it was chosen to underscore the significance of on-going economic reforms for business prosperity and economic diversification.
According to him, it is a paradox of our economic history and the development process that in spite of the nation’s immense oil wealth of the past three decades, the prevalence of poverty in the country remains high.

He said, “the oil economy has progressively crowded out the non-oil economy as oil revenue induced a disturbing complacency towards the development of the phenomenal potentials in the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy.
The bane of the Nigerian economy is the failure of successive governments to effectively channel the enormous oil resources towards economic diversification. The good news, however, is that the current economic reform programme is driven by a vision and passion for rapid private sector development and economic diversification.”

Dr. Ajayi stated that, the reform has created enormous opportunities and potential for the private sector to play the leading role in the transformation of the economy and reverse its monocultural character. To this end, the private sector has taken advantage of some of the reform deliverables to make giant strides in telecommunications, Information and Communication Technology, Agro processing, Tourism, Manufacturing, Oil and Gas, and Financial sectors.   

In the address delivered on behalf of the Minister of Commerce, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar by the Director Domestic Trade Department of the Ministry, Mr. J. B Akanbi, the minister stated that it is fully aware that it is within its purview to provide the enabling environment, and regulate as well as facilitate all the economic activities to move the economy forward, including the initiation of protocols with other nations and organisations for the benefit of the private sector. He called on the Enterprise to keep down their production cost to the barest minimum while maintaining the quality of their products; ensuring prompt delivery, good packaging and flexibility in their operations to remain competitive in the World Market. 

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