CURB INSECURITY THROUGH JOB CREATION, OKOLO TELLS FG

Immediate past President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agricultures (NACCIMA), Dr Simon Chukwuemeka Okolo has enjoined government to think in terms of cubing the rising insecurity across the country with job creation activities to address poverty that seems to have infused restlessness among the youths.

The former NACCIMA boss who blamed the rising insecurity on poverty and unemployment while speaking with journalists over the state of rising insecurity across the country lamented that over 70 per cent of Nigerians are living below poverty level and called on government to step up job creation activities to give employment to Nigerian youths even as it enthrones competitive business environment across the country to reposition the Organize Private Sector which have what it takes to create jobs and help develop the economy.

He decried the lack of vision among some Governors in the country who find it readily convenient to travel to Abuja for monthly allocation instead of looking inwards to generate funds for the development of their state and people.

'Many of these states have vast untapped potentials for development and job creation which their governors never tried to exploit, but if tapped would really go a long way to pull their people out of poverty thereby ,ushering peace in their state and nation at large' he said.

Okolo enjoined the federal government to workout ways to address Nigeria's draconian land laws and constitutional hiccups that continue to deny the State Governors access to the vast mineral deposits in their domain, pointing out if addressed this will create job opportunities in the states, raise their revenue base while they pay tax to the federal government.

He enjoined the federal government to compel the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to urgently address the issue of lack of venture capital in the system that have stifled economic activities among the people and denied access to cheap funds to investors with good investment ideas

Furthermore, he made it clear that the great potential of the Organized Private Sector (OPS) for employment generation has been dampened by the raging high bank lending interest rates that hovers above 22 per cent and high inflation that is about 12 per cent, adding that these should be urgently addressed by the CBN for the emergence of venture capital in the economy.