President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced the federal government’s plan to establish industrial hubs as part of its efforts to address the growing issue of youth unemployment in Nigeria. The President made this statement during the 55th International Conference organized by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) in Abuja, themed “Sustainable HR, Business, and National Development.”

Represented by the Minister of State for Labour, Nkiru Onyejeocha, President Tinubu expressed the administration’s commitment to steering Nigeria towards self-reliance and reducing dependency on others. The vision includes the creation of unique industrial hubs tailored to the strengths of each region in the country.

The President of CIPM, Mr. Olusegun Mojeed, highlighted the theme of the conference, emphasizing the rapid and exponential changes experienced by most industries due to disruptive technologies and the increasingly agile nature of the external market in today’s ecosystem.

Nigeria’s Inflation Rate Hits 27.3%

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate for October 2023 has reached 27.33%, marking a year-on-year increase of 6.24 points compared to October 2022 (21.09%). On a month-over-month basis, the inflation rate in October 2023 was 1.73%, a 0.37% reduction from September 2023 (2.10%).

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) expressed optimism, attributing the lower rate of increase in the average price level in October to its monetary policy stance and money market reforms, suggesting that these measures were having the desired effect.

The Food sub-index for October 2023 increased to 31.52% on a year-on-year basis, driven by higher prices of items such as bread, cereals, oil, fat, potatoes, yam, and other tubers, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables, and milk.

For Core inflation, which excludes volatile farm produce and Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS), it stood at 22.58% in October 2023 on a year-on-year basis, a rise of 5.12% compared to October 2022 (17.46%).