Swartbooi proposes labour export as Govt struggles to create jobs

Landless People’s Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi says the government should explore exporting labour by sending qualified Namibians abroad and receiving remittances that can be ploughed back into society.

This follows his concerns that the government is overemphasising social protection – particularly education, the highest-funded sector with a budget allocation of N$28 billion this financial year – could create more problems.

Swartbooi made the remarks while contributing to a discussion on the national budget in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

“The government needs to look at countries like Nigeria and South Africa, which have agreements with the European Union. Nigeria in particular, because it’s unable to absorb the labour it’s equipping, has exported about 360 000 Nigerian professionals to Greece,” he claimed

“This resulted in remittances of about US$72 billion (about N$1.15 trillion) to Nigeria. We as a country need to start looking at this. We sit with a pool of about 130 000 qualified, educated, equipped and productive young Namibians who have nowhere else to go,” Swartbooi said.

He added that exporting labour could be the remedy in addressing unemployment.

Swartbooi noted that Zimbabwe, Angola, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and many other African countries overemphasise the social sector and underemphasise productive sectors that grow the economy.

He said this approach is toxic, problematic and unsustainable.

“You give N$28 billion which is about 32% of the budget. That results in an additional 134 079 students that will enter the tertiary education sector and those from grades 10, 11, 12 and post-secondary?

“We don’t have answers to where these young people go because we equip them with the skills and we do not create the jobs which will deploy those skills,” Swartbooi said.

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