As part of palliatives to cushion the effect of the economic hardship occasioned by COVID-19, the Cross River State government has pledged to create additional 8,000 jobs to youths in some sectors of the state’s economy.
Secretary to the State Government, Tina Banku Agbor, in a statement, yesterday, in Calabar, listed the sectors as health, security, environment and agriculture.
The government said it took the decision to create additional jobs in order not to allow youths of the state suffer the unsavoury economic consequences of COVID-19. He said the agricultural sector would be employing 5,000 youths.
“In view of COVID-19 lockdown and its attendant consequences on livelihoods, leading to job losses, daily income difficulties, waste of youthful energy, and in order to reduce public anxiety, youth restiveness and lower social tension, the Cross River State Government is set to recruit young men and women from the ages of 18-35, with the exception of those in the health sector, on a flat monthly salary of N30,000,” Agbor said.
“To ready the state’s agricultural sub-sector for a major role in a post-COVID-19 Nigeria, 5,000 young people are to be recruited under a revolutionary agricultural programme that utilises modern farming techniques, mechanisation and digitalisation. In order to build capacity for COVID-19 response in the event of a full blown pandemic,the following are to be recruited with immediate effect: 400 doctors, 600 nurses and 1000 health officers for COVID-19 surveillance across every village in the state,” he said.
According to the SSG, another set of 1,000 youths would be recruited into various agencies of government, including the Green Police, whose core mandate includes urban beautification, landscaping, maintenance of recreational parks, development of nurseries, horticulture and general sanitation. He also said 2,000 young people would be recruited into the state Homeland Security and the Border Patrol Agency with the key objective being the effective enforcement of the lockdown of the state’s extensive border lines.
