FG committed to implementing policies, programmes in tackling low productivity

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ms Kachollom Daju, has said that government would continue to enforce implementation of established institutional and legal frameworks.

This is contained in a statement by the Director, Press and Public Relations, Mr Olajide Oshundun, on Wednesday following the 2023 Meeting of the National Council on Productivity.

Newsmen, reports that the meeting which commenced on Wednesday in Lagos would end on Thursday.

Daju sad that the enforcing the implementation of established institutional and legal frameworks would help anchor policies and programmes targeted at embedding productivity consciousness in society.

She added that government was prioritising enhancement of national productivity as low productivity in most sectors of the nation had become ‘a clog in the wheel’ to realising the objectives of the nation’s developmental goals and aspirations.

She also said that government was lamenting that the manufacturing sector had taken a beating.

A situation she said was evident in foreign exchange earnings, limited number of jobs created and an import bill that could hardly be sustained by current earnings.

“According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s GDP growth averaged 1.1 per cent in the last seven years, between 2015 and 2021, even as the country experienced two recessions.

“This caused unemployment and underemployment rates to increase to an all-time high of 56.1 percent in 2020, pushing at least 133 million Nigerians into multidimensional poverty,” she said.

The PS said that the ministry, through its Productivity Measurement and Labour Standards Department (PLMS), in collaboration with the National Productivity Centre, was at the forefront of the government’s intervention.

According to her, the interventions include monitoring trends, conducting surveys, and continuous strategic implementation of initiatives aimed at improving Nigeria’s global productivity ranking.

“The National Council on Productivity is one of the structures provided for in the National Policy on Productivity.

“This is along with the state council on productivity and Local Government Committees to give full effect to the implementation of the policy.

“The inauguration of this council in January 2022 is evident of government’s recognition of the role of productivity improvement and unflinching commitment towards mainstreaming productivity consciousness into the national plan,” she added.

Similarly, Director, PMLS, Mrs Juliana Adebambo, reiterated the importance of productivity to any economy, noting that it played pivotal role in the sustenance of the global economy.

Adebambo noted that Nigeria was not an exception as it was the bedrock for economic growth and development.

“The country’s productivity is dependent on how successfully the economy transforms land, labour capital and other inputs into goods and services,” she said.