Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has empathized with job seekers in the state, listing several measures his administration is pursuing to address the challenge.

The State Governor who was represented by the Head of Service, Elder Ayanleye Aina made the remarks at the Careers and Employment Opportunity Fair organised by the Ministry of Political Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations in collaboration with Federal Agencies domiciled in Osun State, according to a statement signed by the spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed.

Associating with the mass of job seekers in Osun State, Governor Adeleke said the job fair is one of the many initiatives of his administration to open up the job market, create enabling environment and ensure the engagement of thousands of our unemployed youth.

While commending huge Federal presence in Osun State, Governor Adeleke noted wide opportunities existing for job seekers through appropriate liason with such agencies and their partners.

The Governor however said his government is doing more to address the unemployment crisis.

The Governor speaks further: “As a Government we are determined to address the unemployment question through multiple approach. The Job fair Is only a starting point to exploit opportunities across federal establishments domiciled In the state. Job fairs are potent platforms but our government is doing more than that.

“Part of our employment agenda is to deepen the state economy by encouraging agro-industrial activities among the young and the old. Diversifying the economic base of the state possesses the potential to meaningfully engage our youth.

“Additionally, we are pursuing the localisation agenda in our project implementation. This policy is building the capacity of local contractors and local business to employ more Indigenes in the construction industry.

“Localisation not only strengthen local economy, it imparts technical skill in the local population which increases the employability of our population.

“Our administration is also reviving the technical vocational technical colleges across the State. The focus is to expose our youth population to technical skills to enable them offer services for self-employment.

“The public is also aware of our cooperative loan scheme which is targeting local SMEs. About Four Billion Naira is billed to be disbursed. A strong SMEs increases the capacity of small business to employ more job seekers.

“More importantly, our government is working on a programme of match making between young entrepreneurs and financial institutions. Details of this will be unveil in the upcoming series named ” Engagement With Osun Young Professionals”. The Policy Integration Unit in my office Is working on this particular plan”, the Governor noted in his speech

Governor Adeleke however encouraged young ones and generality of job seekers to improve their skills, both for self employment and employability adding that “we must move beyond our paper qualifications to skill acquisition.”

Earlier in his address , the Commissioner for Political Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations pledged to follow up on the job fair to tap into available opportunities for Osun youth.

Justice Sylvanus of a Federal Capital Territory High Court has granted bail to the immediate past Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika; his daughter Fatima, and others in the sum of N100m each.

The court also ordered the accused persons to produce two sureties each.

According to the court, the accused should be remanded in prison, if they fail to meet the bail conditions.

Sirika was arraigned on a 6-count amended criminal charge before the court.

Before plea taking, the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs SAN, informed the court of an amended charge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) dated May 7, and filed on May 8, which was not opposed by Counsel to the defendants.

After the charge was read and the defendants had pleaded not guilty, Jacobs urged the court for expeditious hearing of the case.

The Rivers State Government on Tuesday dismissed a call on the state House of Assembly by the Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress in the state to commence impeachment proceedings against Governor  Siminlayi Fubara.

The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, told The PUNCH during an interview in Port Harcourt, that the governor would not allow anybody to throw the state into anarchy.

Fubara, on Monday, dismissed the Assembly as an illegal body that did not exist while receiving delegation from Bayelsa State on a peace mission, led by the immediate past governor, Senator Seriake Dickson. This was just after the Assembly passed a bill into without his assent.

Also, the governor insisted that the eight-point peace agreement brokered by President Bola Tinubu was a mere political solution to a problem and not a constitutional issue.

The APC Caretaker Committee Chairman in the state, Chief Tony Okocha, in his reaction on Tuesday, called on the 27 members of the state House of Assembly loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to immediately commence an impeachment process against Fubara.

Okocha said the governor did not have the powers to declare the lawmakers as illegal.

He also wondered when the governor realised that the peace deal which he signed before Tinubu in Abuja was unconstitutional.

He added that aside from refusing to implement all the agreements, he had been making scathing remarks on the President’s genuine intervention to resolve the crisis that rocked the state.

But in a swift reaction, the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, said the position of the governor had not changed.

He stated, “By jurisprudence, the 27 lawmakers lost their seats on the day they defected to another party. That is what the law says.

“The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Section 109, 1g clearly states it. It is incontrovertible. So for anybody to think that they can start a process, the law says they cannot put something on nothing.

“There is nothing at all to even put on something. The House of Assembly does not exist. They are non-existent. The governor said yesterday that they did not exist. Out of his magnanimity, he allowed them, giving them a floater to see if they could come to reality. “But it does appear that they don’t understand what was done for them. So if they want to start an impeachment process, they do not have the legal teeth to even do it. They can only bark, but they can’t bite.”

Also, the leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, Chief Edwin Clark and other prominent individuals in the region warned the lawmakers against causing anarchy in the state.