By: Fransina Nghidengwa
Namibia needs to engineer the economy so that it speaks reality on the ground, Minister of Industrialisation and Trade, Lucia Iipumbu has said.
Speaking at the Omaheke Employment Creation Conference on Wednesday, Iipumbu said government needs to urgently address the issue of unemployment and the need to have a paradigm shift.
“We are aware of the physical space and how unfavourable it is but we need to target sectors that have the potential of employment and sustainable growth of the economy, especially at a regional level.”
The Minister emphasised that they need to facilitate the transition from the informal sector to formal one, and to continuously and cautiously integrate the economic and social objectives so that they ensure the employment objectives are not subordinate to narrow the economic imperatives.
She further said the people should be put at the centre of development.
“Human capital is the most precious product in Namibia and there has to be decent work,” she pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwa is of the view that, as a continent, Africa needs to develop strategies for job creation if they are to maintain peace and stability on the continent, by taking care of the majority of the population who are young people and the asset they can rely on.
The outcome of the conference will be of great use to all Namibians, Nandi-Ndaitwa said.
The employment creation conference seeks to address one of the most pressing challenges of Namibia which is facing the lack of enough jobs to absorb everyone who is in the labour force brackets and most of them in the bracket are the youth.
“The statistics regarding youth unemployment in Namibia are of great concern and most recent data from the Namibia Statistics Agency ( NSA) indicated that the rate of youth unemployment in Namibia stands at 46.1%,” the Deputy Premier said.
Nandi-Ndaitwa further said, while the government is playing its part to address the challenges, particularly among youth, the private sector and individuals with capacity are called upon to come on board.
“We have plans, we have programmes but the time to implement these plans and programmes has now come. I keep reminding Namibians that we are only seven years to the end of Vision 2030, Namibia must be an industrialised country, competitive with other countries in the world,” she said.
During the State of National Address (SONA) earlier this year, President Hage Geingob raised his concerns on youth unemployment whereby he was worried about declaring a state of emergency on youth unemployment in the country.