Employment generation is the single most-critical economic challenge facing the world today. Job creation is on the agenda of many governments and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) emphasises productive employment and decent work for all. 1 The critical question to ask is: How decent are the jobs created through Social Investment Program (SIP) in addressing graduate unemployment in Nigeria? It is against this backdrop that this study sets out to examine how jobs created through the N-Power programme in Oyo State promote decent work. Primary data, using a structured questionnaire and focused group discussions were used to address the questions based on the four dimensions of decent work furnished by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The study adopted a multi-stage random sampling technique and administered 376 questionnaires to N-Power program beneficiaries; this was supported by two-focused group discussion. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyse the data generated. Results show that the SIPs addressed the issue of unemployment but the job cannot be termed decent because of lack of job security, right of work and social dialogue. The study, therefore, recommends that the conditions of engaging graduates should be reviewed in terms of salary structure and period of engagement. There could be the inclusion of some basic rights at work during their engagement and the tenure should be increased from two to three years with the option of engaging some of the beneficiaries as full-term staff at the Federal and State level based on specific criteria that the beneficiaries will meet. Start-up capital/quality equipment should be given to those who prefer to be on their own as a young entrepreneur.
KeywordsJob CreationDecent WorkEmploymentN-Power
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