The Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Malam Mohammed Abubakar recently spoke with selected journalists during an inspection tour to NDE agric and skills acquisition projects in Onipanu in Oyo State and Araromi ASA in Kwara State. MOSES JOHN was there.
What would you say having inspected the NDE projects in this area?
The NDE project here is basically an agriculture and skill acquisition centre. You have gone round with me and seen the whole place with me. Again you have not only seen the infrastructure but the building.
The consultant has talked about the cost of infrastructure here but over and above that, like I have always said, I want you to do your independent assessment. Assessment in terms of whether or not we have justified government’s expenditure.
I am always worried about it. You have always heard me talk? about this. My business is to give government value for money released for projects. If I have done it, I am happy. I am not going to do the assessment myself; that is why I bring you the media people to do that and tell the nation what you have seen.
Is the programme likely to commence?
As you can see, the whole thing is virtually completed; however, as you may know that in the National Directorate of Employment, like other MDAs, everything is done with budget.
Yes, budget determines what you have at every point in time and determines when a project is to be completed. I am committed to seeing that I don’t leave any uncompleted project around this country and therefore I will use the limited resources that we often get to make sure I complete these projects.
Already, you can see the investment we have made, it is easier to complete than to go back either through abandonment or any other thing. I will not be able to tell you exactly because I know the position of budget decision and financing but I know that very soon, the projects will be completed. It is not only here we are doing this; it is a nation-wide thing.
So what I am assuring this community and indeed Nigerians is that with improvement in budget, these projects will be faster. Like I had said earlier, I am determined to ensure that I don’t leave any uncompleted projects around this country.
It is one thing to come up with a programme like this but another thing to ensure its sustenance, what are the machineries you have in place to ensure it doesn’t become a mere dream at the end of the day?
Yes, sustainability sometimes fails but look at these structures, even if government decides to hand off from here, for I don’t know when federal government will cease to be in existence anyway, I don’t know, all I know is that there will always be federal government, there will always be budget for project like this and there will always be funding but even in the absence of this, the community here will never allow this things to be useless, that I know.
Though the money is from the federal government but these buildings will never be taken to Abuja. There are stakeholders here that will take up the challenge to ensure its sustainability because the business of job creation is not only that of the government.
It is the business of state government, local government, community based organizations, faith based organizations and so on and so forth.
So should there be any reason why NDE is not around, this place must continue. You have gone round and seen the whole place yourself. With what you have seen, cattle, sheep goat, poultry and many other animals will be raised here.
So if they approach the business here in a commercial-like manner, these things can produce and re-produce others to sustain itself. So should there be any problem, this place can sustain itself.