Hundreds of thousands of jobs may come to Nigeria, as the government pledges to make job creation one of its top priorities for the next few years. Olusegun Aganga, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, said that the country’s new Growth and Employment Project would focus on creating approximately 460,000 jobs for the citizens of the country, according to The Punch.
The GEM project would employ people in a number of industries, focusing on non oil-related positions in the IT, retail, tourism, entertainment, manufacturing and construction areas. Leaders serving on the GEM project committee include Aganga and other ministers from the finance, tourist, agriculture, information and communications technology sectors. Through the new project, the committee predicts the addition of 110,000 direct and 350,000 indirect positions.
This new initiative will receive funding from The World Bank and the U.K. Department for International Development, and was conceived after a 2007 growth study indicated the economic areas in which Nigeria sought improvement. Aganga said during the project’s inauguration ceremony that the GEM project will help citizens in the country.
“The GEM project is very important to the Federal Government and the Nigerian economy,” Aganga said, according to The Punch. “The project is aimed at job creation and increased non-oil growth in specific high potential value chain sectors.”