- Atiku Abubakar disclosed why President Buhari is allegedly is delaying unemployment data
- Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, claimed that the president is doing so because of 2019 general elections
- The former vice president of Nigeria also alleged that the current administration has not been able to provide NBS the funds it needs to perform its functions
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday, November 15, alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari is delaying unemployment data because of 2019 general elections.
Daily Trust reports that Atiku made this known in a statement by his presidential campaign organisation said the President Buhari's administration has not been able to provide the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) the funds it needs to perform its functions.
The statement read: “We note with dismay the testimony of the statistician general of the federation, Yemi Kale, that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is unable to release the annual unemployment report that it is mandated by law to produce, because the Buhari administration has not provided the NBS with the funds it needs to perform this essential service.
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“If the Buhari administration can afford ₦1.1 billion to fumigate the office of the National Security Adviser, if they can afford ₦3.5 million every month to feed Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, then they can afford to release funds for the NBS to perform its statutory duty of releasing the nation’s job report.
“President Buhari promised to create three million jobs per annum during the 2015 presidential campaign season, but has ended up losing over three million jobs every year since he was sworn in on May 29, 2015.
“Since the Buhari administration came to being, 11 million Nigerians have lost their jobs and in December of 2017, the NBS under Yemi Kale, announced that 7.9 million Nigerians lost their jobs in the 21 months period under review.
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“It is safe to draw the conclusion that if the NBS had been funded and able to release the now due 2018 job reports, the total figure of jobs lost under the present administration may climb higher than the present 11 million jobs.
“Thus, we can understand why this failed administration is desperate to cover that information up, however, the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation insists that Nigerians deserve to know the truth no matter how unpalatable it may be.”
Legit.ng however gathered that recent reports (not by Legit.ng), quoted the statistician-general of Nigeria, Yemi Kale, as saying that the body does not have enough funds to release the latest unemployment data.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had also reported that the N-Power programme of the Buhari-led administration will be expanded to accommodate 1 million beneficiaries in the next phase, Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo says.
Osinbajo said this in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice-President, Mr Laolu Akande in Abuja on Tuesday, November 13.
Akande quoted Osinbajo as having made the disclosure when he responded to questions at a town hall meeting in Abuja.
The vice-president said that N-Power was borne out of the growing need for government direct intervention in job creation.
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Source: Legit.ng