A presidential aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party, Peter Obi, has warned that Nigeria cannot grow economically with a 35 per cent unemployment rate, urging the Federal Government to aggressively support micro, small and medium enterprises, which are the engine of job creation.

Peter Obi disclosed this in his Workers Day message to Nigerians on Sunday evening.

Nigeria’s unemployment rate as of the end of 2020 rose to 33.3% from 27.1% recorded as of Q2 2020, indicating that about 23,187,389 (23.2 million) Nigerians remain unemployed, according to the last released labour force report published by the National Bureau of Statistics

What Obi is saying

Peter Obi urged the Nigerian government to aggressively support micro, small and medium enterprises which he believes are the engine of job creation, so that they can effectively contribute to reducing the unemployment rate.

He said, “No country grows economically with a 35 per cent unemployment rate, which, when combined with under-employment, will be 55 per cent. That’s a figure of 60 per cent of unemployed Nigerians being youths—the greatest asset of any nation.”

“I congratulate all Nigerian workers on their celebration of Workers Day while encouraging the need to uphold the beautiful virtues of diligence and hard work,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party in its workers day message stated that inaction towards the welfare of workers had continue to dislocate the nation’s social order and cripple its major productive sectors with grave negative ripple effect on millions of families and the nation at large
National Publicity Secretary, Mr Debo Ologunagba, in Abuja on Sunday commended Nigerian Workers for their patriotism, patience and determination towards nation building in spite of the asphyxiating environment, describing workers as real drivers of Nigeria’s life.

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