The Director-General of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Issa Aremu, has said deliberate and intentional job creation is the key to tackling poverty and moving Nigeria into an “age of prosperity.”

Aremu stated this during an interview on Arise TV on Tuesday, while reflecting on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Independence Day address and the administration’s economic reforms.

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He said the President’s speech contained several policy signals that gave hope that Nigeria was moving towards prosperity after navigating the challenges associated with its macroeconomic reforms.

According to Aremu, Nigeria’s path out of the current economic crisis should be driven by job-led and wage-led growth.

“The way out of the economic crisis we have today is to have a job-led growth, job-led growth. And if I want to add further, wage-led growth,” he said.

Aremu said Tinubu’s emphasis on productive work, employment and industrialisation showed that the government was looking beyond cheaper goods to creating opportunities for Nigerians to earn sustainable incomes.

He argued that tackling poverty requires a deliberate effort to create employment rather than relying solely on market forces or trickle-down economics.

“The key out of poverty, I think, also in our proverbs, you know, it’s work. Yoruba are very poetic: ‘Iṣẹ́ l’ọ̀ògùn iṣẹ́.’ You want to get out of poverty, you need to have jobs,” Aremu said.

“We have to be deliberate, intentional to create jobs. We can’t leave job creation to market forces, trickle-down economics of the recent times. So we have to be deliberate.”

The labour expert also praised the Tinubu administration for what he described as a different approach to economic reform, particularly its retention of public-sector employment.

Aremu contrasted the current administration’s approach with reforms under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, when policies such as downsizing, rightsizing and monetisation resulted in significant reductions in public-sector jobs.

He said the Tinubu administration had demonstrated that economic reforms could be implemented without necessarily sacrificing public-sector employment.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has shown a different approach to reform, that you can have reforms not at the expense of public jobs,” he said.

Aremu further claimed that the number of federal employees had increased from about 720,000 in 2023 to nearly two million, attributing the rise partly to the creation of new institutions and agencies.

He cited the Regional Development Council and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund among institutions he said had contributed to additional employment opportunities.

He added that when state and local government employment were included, millions of jobs had been created across the public sector.

However, Aremu said the next priority should be ensuring that the jobs created are decent and capable of improving workers’ living standards.

He maintained that employment, industrialisation and productive work must remain central to Nigeria’s transition from economic reforms to broad-based prosperity.

Military gear has reportedly been found at the scene of a helicopter crash in Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.

The helicopter crashed in a swampy area of the coastal community on Monday, October 5, 2026, sparking panic among residents.

The Chairman of Ilaje Local Government Area, Maurice Oripelaye, said military personnel and equipment were seen at the crash site, raising the possibility that the aircraft could have been a military helicopter.

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However, the identity of the helicopter and its operator had not been officially established as of the time of filing this report.

Oripelaye said the aircraft crashed near the Naval Base area and was burnt to rubble following the incident.

He also said the number of people who were aboard the helicopter could not immediately be ascertained, while the fate of those on board remained unclear.

Earlier, residents reported hearing a loud sound from the direction of the crash before discovering that an aircraft had gone down in the swampy area.

The difficult terrain has also made access to the crash site challenging, with security personnel and other responders deployed to the area.

The Ondo State Police Command has confirmed the aircraft crash and said investigations are ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The police urged residents of Igbokoda and adjoining communities to remain calm and avoid spreading unverified information, promising to provide further details as credible information becomes available.

Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has arrived at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre (BATICC) in Abuja for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Women Stakeholders’ Mobilisation and Empowerment Pre-Inaugural Campaign Roll-Out.

The First Lady arrived at the conference centre on Monday, October 5, for the women-focused political gathering organised by the Women Mobilisation Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The event is themed “Renewed Hope Agenda 2.0: From Reforms to Prosperity,” with the mobilisation message, “One Voice, One Movement, One Choice, One Mandate 2027.”

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The gathering is expected to bring together thousands of women from across the country, including women leaders, professionals, entrepreneurs, political stakeholders, community representatives and grassroots organisers.

20,000 women expected

The arrival follows a report published on Sunday, October 4, which said Oluremi Tinubu was expected to lead a major mobilisation of women stakeholders in Abuja.

According to the report, more than 20,000 women were expected to attend the Women Stakeholders’ Mobilisation and Empowerment Pre-Inaugural Campaign Roll-Out scheduled for 8am at BATICC.

The APC Women Mobilisation Directorate has also announced an ambitious target of mobilising 40 million women’s votes for President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Director of the Women Mobilisation Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Dr Betta Edu, disclosed the target ahead of the gathering and said the structure was expanding its grassroots mobilisation across the country.

Speaking ahead of the event, a member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council Women Mobilisation Planning Committee, Princess Gloria Akobundu, highlighted programmes including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), CREDICORP, infrastructure projects, cash-transfer programmes and youth empowerment initiatives.

Akobundu urged women in Imo State and across the South-East to strengthen their mobilisation structures and take the Renewed Hope Agenda message to communities across the region.

She said, “We are calling on our women across the South-East to strengthen their mobilisation and ensure that the message of the Renewed Hope Agenda reaches every community and locality.”