Where are the jobs? Ize-Iyamu mocks Obaseki’s job creation claim

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for the Edo State election on Sunday mocked Governor Godwin Obaseki on his claim on job creation during governorship debate.

Ize-Iyamu, reacting to a claim by Obaseki that his administration had created 157,000 jobs so far, accused the governor of getting his facts wrong.

“I am sure he is not going to misplace the appointments he is making now as jobs,” Ize-Iyamu said during the debate in Benin City.

“I know in the past one month, he has appointed over 2,000 people as SSA s on social media and the rest of them.

“Those are not jobs. When you say you have created jobs, in what area? We know for example that there is a glaring vacancy in the teaching profession and every school we went to, they practically had no teacher,” he said.

Governor Obaseki, while defending his performance in the area of human capital development had said, “At the onset, I promised to create a minimum of 200,000 jobs within a four-year period.

“Just before COVID-19, we had created both direct and indirect jobs for Edo people as much as 157,000 jobs.

Ize-Iyamu, who did not provide alternative figures to counter the governor’s jobs creation claim, said if the numbers were true, it would have significantly boosted the state’s economy.

“If it is true that we are able to have the number of jobs that the Edo State governor claims, our IGR will not be where it is. There will be a significant leap,” he said.