Senate asks labour ministry to review age limit for unemployed

The senate has asked the federal ministry of labour and employment to set up a panel to review the age limit for citizens applying for jobs.

The resolution of the upper legislative chamber followed a motion sponsored by Ibrahim Gobir, senator representing Sokoto east.

While speaking on the floor of the senate on Wednesday, Gobir said different age limits set by ministries, departments and agencies as well as private organisations have prevented many Nigerians from securing jobs.

The senator noted that because of the country’s high unemployment rate, many have spent more than 10 years searching for jobs.

The legislator said these affected citizens have resorted to falsifying their dates of birth for them to be gainfully employed.

Supporting the motion, Bala Na’Allah, senator representing Kebbi south, maintained that there is no justification for age limits for those seeking employment.

“As an institution, we must take judicial notice of the fact that the federal government on its own placed embargo on employment for over 13 years. So, that period that there has been embargo placed by the federal government itself should be what we should consider in the review of the age limit,” Na’Allah said.

“For example, if the age limit is 23 we will now add the 13 or 14 years of embargo on employment to the age already benchmarked for employment so that the age will now be plus 13, because it is the government on its own that placed the embargo on employment.”

On his part, Senate President Ahmad Lawan called on the labour ministry to address the issue promptly.

“I agree with you completely. It is not their fault that people are discriminating [against them]. They will tell you 30 years’ age limit, meanwhile someone had graduated 10 years earlier,” Lawan said.

“I am urging the federal ministry of labour and productivity to swing into action immediately.”