By Akinwale Kasali
Mixed reactions have trailed the statement by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, that it is not the responsibility of the Government to create jobs for its citizens.
Adesina made this statement Tuesday on an Arise News Television programme ‘The Morning Show’ while speaking on the achievements of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in the last eight years.
He noted that all the Government does is create an enabling environment for creating jobs while the private sector creates jobs.
He was reminded that President Buhari had promised to create three million jobs annually in 2015, but Adesina retoted, “Did you say three million was the promise? I wouldn’t say he put a figure. What I recall was that President Buhari gave the per cent of joblessness in the country. I wouldn’t recall that he gave a specific figure for the number of jobs we are creating. For all you know, that may have come from anywhere.
“Regardless as it may, it is the job and the duty of the Government to create an enabling environment for jobs in the country. It is not the Government itself that creates jobs. All it does is to create an enabling environment.
“Most of the jobs you need in a country would come from the private sector. As long as you have an enabling environment, it is the private sector that will create the jobs”.
He, however, noted that Buhari has achieved in all sectors including oil and gas, infrastructure, legislative matters and security.
Reacting to Adesina’s statement, a netizen said that it was insulting and disgraceful for the FG to say that it is not its duty to provide jobs for Nigerians.
Femi Gbadamosi, a netizen said that he can’t can’t for President Buhari to end his administration, stressing that the statement by Adesina shows the “failure of his administration – a waste and woeful.”
Another netizen said for a Special Adviser to the President to say this shows that the nation has been sitting on a keg of gunpowder with a President that has no plans for its people.
