TheCable

Paul Ibe, media adviser to Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says the latest job report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is catastrophic.

The NBS released the job report for Q4 2017 to Q3 2018 on Wednesday, showing that the number of unemployed Nigerians rose from 17.6 million to 20.9 million in the review period.

In a statement on Thursday, Ibe blamed the Muhammadu Buhari administration for the increase in unemployment, adding that the number was “twice the population of Benin Republic”.

“We expected a terrible job report, particularly with the comment on live television from the president’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, that President Buhari had ordered the Statistician General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale, not to release the latest job reports,” the statement read.

“However, the job report released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday is not just terrible, it is catastrophic.

“They show that under the All Progressives Congress administration, a whopping 20.93 million Nigerians have lost their jobs.

“To put this in perspective, the unemployed population in Nigeria is now twice the population of Benin Republic.”

Atiku’s media aide said instead of voting Buhari who could not grow his private business, Nigerians should elect Atiku who his focused on job creation.

“Atiku Abubakar is an expert at job and wealth creation having created 50,000 jobs in his own private capacity. This is a man who will never have 150 cattle year in and year out,” the statement read.

“This is a man who will never blame others and will always accept responsibility for changing things. Nigeria needs jobs and Atiku means jobs.”