THE House of Representatives
Wednesday rejected a bill, which sought to make provisions for monetary
incentives for unemployed graduates in the country.
The proposed legislation, titled:
“A Bill for an Act to amend the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) Act,
Cap. N28 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, by creating specific functions
and objectives for the Directorate to specifically cater for unemployed
graduates of tertiary institutions,” failed to scale second reading when it was
put to vote by the Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.
Meanwhile, the House of
Representatives has also endorsed a bill seeking to overhaul the Consumer
Protection Council.
The bill, sponsored by Daniel
Reyeneiju (PDP, Delta State), seeks to amend the Consumer Protection Council Act
to modify its composition; widen the scope of its functions and powers so as to
provide for a broader and more effective Council.
Sponsor of the bill, Arua Arunsi,
had, during his submission on the floor, said the objective of the bill was to
design implementation programmes to combat mass unemployment of graduates that
are between the ages of 18 to 35 years and also between third to fifth year of
post-graduation experience.
According to him, the bill also
seeks to pay certain amount of allowances to the unemployed graduates in
Nigeria.
But opponents of the proposed
legislation pointed out that the provisions of the bill failed to meet critical
criteria of filling gaps inherent in the existing laws it was seeking to amend.
A member, Ibrahim El sudi, noted
that the bill had nothing new as a similar programme for unemployed graduates
was already in existence at the NDE. He added: “There is a graduate attachment
programme that does exactly what this bill is seeking.
“Even, a similar programme exists
for non-graduates on the social aspect for unemployed non-graduates at the
National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NISTF).
What should happen is for the
authorities to strengthen these programmes”.
Source: Guardian
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