1.8m joins labour market in Q3CBN, W'Bank seek law on loan securityIF they really care, the development should translate to sleepless nights and grey hairs for the managers of the nation's economy and their political overlords. The question is: Do they'In any case, the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday said the rate of unemployment and inflation is on the rise in the country, even as the Gross National Product (GDP) warmed upward, albeit at snail's speed, in the third Quarter (Q3) of 2011.Statistician-General of the Federation, Yomi Kale, stated this in Abuja when he briefed the media on the latest GDP-related data findings, Composite Price Index (CPI), the inflationary trends and allied statistics.Meanwhile, the quest of the Nigerian government to enthrone a regime of financial inclusion, which would guarantee access to credit to a large spectrum of Nigerians particularly in the rural areas where poverty is endemic has created the need for a law to securitize collaterals like movable assets and capital/money market instruments, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.In essence, what the law seeks is to recognise such assets as security upon which financing institutions can depend to grant credits to applicants which is not the case at the moment.Already, work on the Bill by the Financial Services Sector (FSS) 2020 Committee of the CBN with assistance from the World Bank-sponsored Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Project Team has gone far.Speaking yesterday at the national stakeholders' workshop in Abuja on the secured lending and securitisation, Governor, CBN, Lamido Sanusi, endorsed the development, pointing out that the proposed law will also set up a registry for secured claims against movables and chattel mortgages.Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Ayoade Adeosun, assured that the Bill would be given accelerated treatment to create opportunities for Nigerians and avoid the unpleasant development currently ravaging the North African region.And, in an ever-increasing intensity of engagement with the rest of the world, Nigeria now needs a clear Diaspora policy, which would among others, build on the $15 billion currently entering the country through remittances from abroad.Besides, while it has become imperative to acknowledge the diversity of Diasporan interests and strategies, Nigeria would do well to also encourage Diasporan ownership of their initiatives and contributions.These and other submissions were made yesterday in Abuja by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru, while conferring with the House of Representatives committee on the Diaspora.Kale said: 'The unemployment rate...in the first half of 2011 increased to 23.9 per cent...This represents an increase of 1.8 million additional unemployed people between December 2010 and June 2011.'The Bureau attributed the rise in the ranks of the nation's unemployed to fresh entrants to the job market and worker layoffs across all sectors of the economy in the course of the year.Stating that every employed Nigerian was economically responsible for three other citizens, Kale disclosed that Yobe, Zamfara and Niger states stayed atop the ignoble list of states with highest incidence of unemployment.Yobe, which recently reeled under terrorist attack, tops the chartwith 60.6 per cent of its employable population being unemployed. Zamfara followed with 42.6 per cent of the total employment population, while Niger has 39.7 per cent.States in the South-West had the lowest index. Osun came in with the lowest figure of three per cent unemployment; Kwara, 7.1 per cent and Lagos 8.3 per cent.Stressing that the inflationary trend is 'slightly on the rise', Kale said: 'The biggest contributors to the rise in consumer inflation in the preceding month were high cost of kerosene and diesel'. Consumer inflation rose to 10.5 per cent year-on-year in October, up from 10.3 per cent in the previous month.Kale also said the GDP has not risen from its 2010 point because of the decline in oil growth. He added: 'Crude oil production, with its associated gas components, for example, fell to 2.49mbpd on average in Q3 2010 to 2.36mbpd on average in Q3 2011.'While the non-oil sector grew by 8.81 per cent with contributions from agriculture, wholesale/retail trade, telecommunications, Manufacturing and Finance/Insurance sectors, the oil sector output however recorded a negative growth during the third quarter of 2011 arising from lower oil production.The structure of the economy, according to the Bureau, remained the same, as the three major contributors to the economy, agriculture, petroleum products and wholesale and retail trade accounted for 76.2 per cent of the GDP.On the performance of some sectors of the economy, Kale said that the Hotels and Restaurants sector employedmore than73,000 people in 2010, with an average monthly emolument of N34,544.According to him, the total income attributable toforeign and domestic guests in the hotels in 2010 was N131.43 billion.The Statistician-General disclosed further thatthe building and construction sector engaged 76,611in 2010, with an average monthly emolument of N35,201.Kale said that1,414 people either lost or changed their jobs in the cement manufacturing sub-sector, while 7,160 people were engaged in the sub-sector in 2010, with a monthly emolument of N80,142.However, the Statistician-General of the Federation said, 'Nigeria has been able to climb up faster than most economies of the world despite not achieving double digits growth, as in the third quarter of the year. Only two countries - China and Estonia - out of 13 countries that have so far released their Q3, 2011 GDP, grew faster than Nigeria'.Kale hinted that rebasing the GDP to a more recent year would help to better position the country's GDP 'to a more realistic status, given that the base year for calculation has been 1990, more than 20 years ago.'At the House hearing yesterday, committee chairperson, Abike Dabiri-Erewa opened the session by underscoring the need for Nigeria to have a 'constructive and documented' policy on the Diaspora.Other members of the committee also wondered why the Federal Government was seemingly concentrating efforts at mobilising Diasporan response to Nigeria's economic needs in western nations, to the detriment of the Middle East, Asia and even African nations like Sudan reputed to have eight million Nigerians.Urging the Lower House to look into several burning issues like dual citizenship, Ashiru said: 'If we want to recruit the best of talents, we should revisit the issue of dual citizenship, so that there are no discrimination between 'home' Nigerians and 'Nigerians in the Diaspora.' Collaboration must now be built with the Diaspora based on realistic objectives and strategies.
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