The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Dr. Shuaib Belgore has echoed the Ministry’s unwavering effort in creating job opportunities and recruiting Nigerian citizens into paramilitary outfits under its supervision in the last couple of years.
As the number of unemployed Nigerians continue to swell due to the exponential increase in population, Belgore said that the Ministry is well positioned for employment creation aimed at mitigating the soaring unemployment in the country.
Belgore, who received the Senior Special Assistant to the President (SSAP) on job creation, Tilda Mmegwa, in Abuja, disclosed that 9,000 intakes were employed into both the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) while about 1,000 intakes each were admitted into Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) and Federal Fire Service (FFS).
He further revealed that multiplier effects of job creation are unique in granting Business Permits to new businesses in addition to expatriate quotas granted to joint venture firms and wholly owned Nigerian companies, maintaining that these functions are domiciled in the Ministry’s Business and Citizenship Department (C&B).
According to him, “While the Ministry grants expatriate quotas to firms and companies under the joint venture arrangements or wholly owned Nigerian companies, we encourage hiring of Nigerian professionals to fill some vacancies. This is done to generate employment for Nigerian professionals.”
Belgore also used the occasion to commend President Muhammadu Buhari for his uncommon investment into Federal Fire Service by taking its fleet of fire fighting trucks from abysmal number to more than 100 functional modern fire gadgets, adding that procurement of these fire gadgets had improved operations and response to disaster.
Earlier, the SSA to the president expressed satisfaction to what she described as ‘phenomenal intervention’ of the Ministry in creating jobs for Nigerians as she admitted that most countries in the world are facing economic crises fueled by COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant global inflation.
She appreciated Belgore for a warm reception, maintaining that her office would coordinate with the Interior Ministry to gather data of recruitment into the four paramilitary outfits being supervised by the Ministry.