Festus Keyamo, the state minister for labour, asserted that President Muhammadu Buhari cannot be held responsible for the high percentage of Nigerian children who are not enrolled in school.
Additionally, he stated that while providing an atmosphere that fosters job development, the federal government should not have the whole duty for doing so.
In a Thursday appeal on Arise TV, Keyamo—who is also the spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council—made the comment.
Read Also: Adams Oshiomhole Speaks On Improved Electoral Process In Nigeria
He contends that the state governments, not the federal government, are to blame for the high number of children who are not in primary or secondary school because these institutions are under the control of the state governments.
Keyamo said;
Primary and secondary school is not within the purview of the federal government. Let us get that clear. So when you roll out those statistics you’re talking about the PDP government at the state levels, you’re talking about the APGA government in Anambra, you’re talking about the APC government in different states too.
So it is not the burden of the federal government that children are out of school at the primary school level, and secondary school level. That is a state responsibility.
We only intervene sometimes in terms of funding and some kind of support we give to the state government. So the state government should take responsibility for this, and they should encourage students at those levels to go to school.
He further revealed that some opposition states are misleading the public, rather than discharging its responsibilities to the people.
While acknowledging that the unemployment rate is high minister said “go and look at the statistics from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics and look at the state by state level of unemployment; it’s not that of the federal government alone.
Some of the opposition party states has the highest number of unemployed persons. It is the responsibility of state and local government to employ people, not the responsibility of the federal government alone.
What the federal government does is to provide the enabling environment and policies that can make people get employment.
