The federal government recently announced its plan to recruit 3,500 teachers for Unity Colleges; enhancing education standards across Nigeria.
The Ministry of Education is working with the Office of the Head of Service, the Federal Civil Service Commission, and other government bodies to facilitate the recruitment of new teaching staff, according to a post on X.
The Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Sununu made the announcement during the National Stakeholders’ Forum on Senior Secondary Education, a two-day event held to discuss education policies and reforms in Nigeria.
What he said
Sununu provided further details on this new development.
“I assure you that the Ministry is collaborating with the Office of the Head of Service, the Federal Civil Service Commission, and other relevant government organs to recruit 3,500 teaching staff for our federal government colleges nationwide.
“The goal is to improve the educational standards in Federal Unity Colleges”, he said.
In addition to the recruitment, Dr. Sununu noted that the Ministry has arranged for extensive training and retraining programs for school staff. He further stated that this will enhance the quality of education, and ensure that the new teachers and existing staff are well-prepared to meet the needs of students.
Reducing unemployment in Nigeria: According to the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mrs Nkeiruka Onyejeocha.‘In Nigeria, youth unemployment remains a pressing issue, with over 13 million young people currently unemployed,’
Backstory
Also, as Nairametrics earlier reported for the third quarter of 2023, the unemployment rate surged to 5.0%, marking a notable increase from the 4.2% recorded in Q2 2023.
Among men, the unemployment rate stood at 4.0%, while among women, it was 6.0%.
The World Bank also reported that unemployment occurs in Nigeria due to a lack of access to finance and infrastructure keeps firms small, constraining their growth and—with that—also their ability to create higher skills jobs through specialization.
However, as of April this year, the Federal government commenced the implementation of strategies towards the creation of jobs and lifting people out of extreme poverty with the physical distribution of working tools to numerous beneficiaries across the country.
This was aimed at expanding employment opportunities encouraging meaningful participation in wealth generation activities and proposing effective measures for job creation and poverty alleviation by promoting the development of MSMEs.
In a similar vein, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mrs Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, said that the federal government planned to create 2.5 million jobs through the Labour Employment Enhancement Programme (LEEP).
She noted that the LEEP aimed for zero hunger, zero poverty, economic growth, and decent jobs through six strategic initiatives.