Ayade gives instant jobs to 300 applicants in Calabar firm

How to check unemployment, by report

Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has approved the immediate engagement of about 300 shortlisted applicants as employees of the newly built state-owned Calabar Garment Factory.

A statement from the governor yesterday said the lucky beneficiaries were at the garment factory for the final screening for employment. The final screening is in three batches for applicants from each of the three senatorial districts of the state.

Ayade directed that every applicant at the event be given automatic employment.He told the crowd that: “When we set up this factory, the intention was not just to create jobs, but to guarantee that young men and women who have been challenged by circumstances of their births have the opportunity to better their lot.”

Meanwhile, a new study entitled “Management of National Unemployment Challenge” (MNUC) has revealed that unless the Federal Government makes strategic policy decisions on the country’s economy, education, immigration and expatriate quota, unemployment would persist.

The MNUC study, conceived by the leadership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) as a response to the social, economic and political challenges of unemployment in Nigeria, was formally unveiled in Lagos yesterday at CIPM House.

Additionally, government must also holistically provide strategies for managing the labour market; provide guidelines for entrepreneurial skills development and rural industrialisation for cottage enterprise, according to the study.

President and Chairman, Governing Council of CIPM, Anthony Arabome, who spoke during the “Media and Stakeholders Engagement on MNUC,” session said the study was apt as data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that youth unemployment has grown from an average of 16.43 percent in 2014 to 21.50 percent in the first quarter of 2016.

Team leader of the research committee, a Fellow and former Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of the institute, Dr. Musa Rabiu (FCIPM), said the passion for national development led to the research.