Femi Adesina, the special adviser to the president on media and publicity, during an interview on Arise TV on May 2, 2023 made some claims in defense of his just released fact sheet on the out-going administration.
Claim 1: Buhari did not promise to create 3 million jobs per annum in his 2015 campaign.
Outlining the achievements of Buhari in eight years, the special adviser, Femi Adesina noted that the administration had created 119,000 jobs in total. He however claimed that President Buhari did not promise to create 3 million jobs annually in 2015 when asked by the Arise correspondence.
According to him, “Did you say three million was the promise? I wouldn’t say he put a figure. What I recall was that President Buhari gave the percent of joblessness in the country. I wouldn’t recall that he gave a specific figure for the number of jobs we are creating.”
“For all you know, that may have come from anywhere.”
Verification
The CDD Election War Room could not find a video evidence of Buhari promising to create three million jobs at a town hall meeting in Kano. We combed through the internet to find video evidence to where Buhari made the promise, all to no avail.
However, we found a news report upholding that Buhari did promise to provide 3 million jobs annually. According to the Guardians report, Buhari made this promise on February 3, 2015 while addressing a town hall meeting in Kano state.
We found the video of a meeting Buhari had with the organised private sector in Kano State. Although the meeting which was dated February 3, 2015 did not show Buhari mentioning the issue of job creation, one of the speakers did mention that the outgoing president had spoken about it earlier.
Verdict: No evidence
The claim that Buhari promised three million jobs has no video evidence. The only evidence we found is a news report by the Guardian and an address by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on May 1, 2015. They “vowed to hold the incoming Muhammadu Buhari-led government accountable in respect of his party’s promises to Nigerians and workers in particular.” The news report was titled “We’ll hold Buhari, APC to ‘3 million jobs a year’ pledge – NLC, TUC”
Claim II: It is not the government itself that creates jobs
Adesina, while defending his principal’s inability to provide three million jobs as allegedly promised in 2015, noted that it was not the job of the government to create jobs for its citizens.
Adesina was quoted saying, “Regard as it may, it is the job and the duty of the government to create an enabling environment for jobs in the country. It is not the government itself that creates jobs. All it does is to create an enabling environment. Most of the jobs you need in a country would come from the private sector. As long as you have an enabling environment, it is the private sector that will create the jobs.”
Verification: The CDD Election War Room found that the Chapter 2, section 17 (3) of the 1999 constitution as amended, obligates the government to “direct its policy” towards ensuring that citizens have the opportunity for securing adequate means of livelihood as well as adequate opportunity to secure suitable employment without discrimination. The constitution further insists that the conditions of employment are humane, health and welfare are secured, that there is equal pay and that exploitation is avoided.
The constitution does not however specify on the role of the government to create jobs.
Verdict: True
The government is not obligated to create jobs but to create enabling policies and environment for job creation.