On Wednesday, the Senate advised the federal government to order the Ministry of Labor and Employment to set up a committee to review the age limit for job seekers in the country, to enable the ministries, departments and government agencies to hire qualified applicants.
The call was sequel to a motion by Ibrahim Gobir (APC, Sokoto East) where he noted that recruitment requirements of MDAs and other private bodies, which set age barriers, “inadvertently excludes and marginalizes skillful and competent prospective applicants from participating in such exercises.”
He said many graduates spend up to 10 years finding jobs because of the high unemployment rate in the country, and this places them in a weakened position by no fault of theirs.
Many individuals have recourse to falsifying their ages, all in a bid to fall within the age limit required for them to be employed gainfully, he said.
“This development, where a person believes he is unemployable, can lead them to embracing criminal activities and further increase the growing crime rate and insecurity in the country.”
In his presentation, Bala Na’Allah reminded the Senate of the jobs embargo put by the federal government over 13 years ago.
The embargo duration, he said, has to be factored into the country’s Ministry of Labor and Productivity ‘s review of age limits for prospective job seekers.
“The period that there have been embargo by the federal government in itself should be considered in the review of age limit. For example, if the age limit is 23, we must now add the 13 or 14 years of embargo on employment to the age already earmarked for employment, so that the age will be plus thirteen, because it is the government on its own that placed the embargo on employment.
“There cannot be justification for you to place embargo on employment, then at the same time expect graduates to remain at the age they were during the period of the embargo.
“I think in the review, that has to be taken into account, and therefore, the age limit can now be raised in addition to the established age. That should be the legal verdict for the review,” he said.
In his remark the president of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, urged the Labor Ministry to promptly address the issue.
“It is not through a fault of theirs that people are discriminated against. They’ll tell you only 30 years limit, meanwhile someone graduated ten years ago.
“This is a very good motion urging the Ministry of Labour and Productivity to swing into action immediately.”
