Nigerians accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of reneging on the promise of creating four million jobs yearly were on Tuesday reminded that such an outcome was outside his major brief and, therefore, they should not have expected its fulfillment.
The clarification was made by presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, on The Morning Show, a breakfast programme on Arise Television, where he appeared as a guest on Tuesday to defend the eight-year tenure of the administration, which would come to an end in three weeks’ time, on May 29.
Not only did Adesina deny that his principal made the promise in the first place, he explained that what Buhari owes the nation is to create an enabling environment for the economy to thrive, adding that the function of creating jobs on a massive scale, which Nigerians were expecting, are actually in the hands of the private sector.
Adesida, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, told his hosts emphatically that Buhari never put a figure to the number of jobs that would be created during his tenure, adding that he actually fulfilled his own promise of creating the environment, which could be seen in the massive infrastructure in the country that underscored his administration.
He said: “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.”