‘Seun Ibukun-Oni, Abuja

 

Daily Courier – The Federal Government on Wednesday, said it has approved the opening of employment and job creation portals for the unemployed Nigerians living in the country and in the Diaspora.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said the council approved a portal called Nigerian Labour Exchange, NILEX, which will be domiciled in his ministry for employment and job creation.

He explained that the platform had not been developed over time and could not take stress of the number of people wanting to go into it, stressing that the digital platform was supposed to be used by employers on one hand and job seekers on the other.

He said, “The employers will come in and load the vacancy they have, the type of skill they want, the qualifications of people that can fit in there.

“Then the job seekers, those who are looking for job, graduates, non-graduates will register, put in the qualification, put in their skill and what you can do and then the two groups are matched. The employer can speak with a job seeker, via that platform.

“So over the years we have not been able to expand it. But on a bilateral, multilateral agreement now the funds are provided. So we are redesigning it, remodeling it, and then upgrading the infrastructure.

“Council approved that consultant also do that with a completion period of 12 weeks and with that we have passed the first stage of digitalising that particular platform.

“One of the good things about our platform now when it becomes operational, all those phones platforms that ask people to register for work, pay in N10,000 or N20,000, will become a thing of the past because this will be a government platform. And when you go there, you know is a genuine platform.

“Apart from that, people in diaspora can also upload their expertise and tell Nigerians, what they have that qualifies them for special jobs and if they are employers in Nigeria that need them, again there will be a handshake through that same portal.”