The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation has announced plans to employ additional aid workers to improve humanitarian response time.
The ministry said the employment would be on a temporal basis as part of the Federal Government’s commitment to reduce unemployment in the country.
Last 8th August, it was reported that Nigeria tops the list of countries with the highest rate of unemployment, according to the latest statistics released by the World of Statistics.
Nigeria led with 33.3 per cent, followed by another African country, South Africa 32.9 per cent, and Iran 15.55 per cent.
The lowest rate of unemployment, according to the report, was in countries like Qatar: 0.1 per cent, Cambodia: 0.36 per cent, and Niger 0.5 per cent.
Also on 21st December, The PUNCH reported that the unemployment rate among youth aged between the age of 15 to 24 years increased to 7.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics has said.
The increase was 7.2 per cent having been at 6.9 per cent in Q1 2023.
But when the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar paid her a courtesy visit, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Beta Edu, said the planned recruitment was to improve humanitarian response time.
“As part of the New Year’s plans, the ministry will be hiring temporal Humanitarian aid workers and deploying them to every location where there are humanitarian crises going forward.
“This will not only reduce unemployment but will improve our response time and the quality of response going forward.
“These people will be hired for three months in the first instance, and if the crisis is protracted, they may be made to stay 6 months or one-year maximum,” Edu was quoted to have said in a statement on Friday.
According to her, people with skills and experience working in humanitarian crisis situations will have greater advantages.
“To improve on inclusiveness, members of the public who wish to apply may do so as a written application to the Department of Humanitarian Affairs or as an online application (portal link will be publicised by Monday). Application for the job is totally free”, she added.
On his part, Abubakar, who spoke through the NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Wapkerem Maigida, assured the minister that NAF personnel will support the ministry to move both humanitarian aid workers and relief materials to states and hinterlands where they are most needed.
“Beyond security, the Nigerian Airforce provides humanitarian support to communities working with relevant government MDAs”, he said.
