President Muhammadu Buhari spokesman, Garba Shehu claims the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) has created 12 million jobs in Nigeria. Garba Shehu made this claim while commenting on President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration regarding job creation, on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily Programme . The spokesman said: “In agriculture alone, the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) is talking about 12 million new jobs”
VERIFICATION
N-VA extracted the claim, “Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria has Created 12 Million Jobs in Nigeria”.
A web search of keywords in the claim revealed that the president’s former social media adviser, Lauretta Onochie who is now the Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has previously made the same claim.
The researcher checked through the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) website to confirm the employment rate in rice production. The last NBS data report on sector employment in the country was released in 2017. The report is titled “Labour Force Statistics Vol. 2: Employment by Sector” and it provides data on the distribution of the labor population and employment sectors in Nigeria during that period.
The report states that out of a labor population of 77.55 million individuals engaged in economic activities, 38.24% (29.66 million) were self-employed in farming/agriculture, and 27.93% (21.66 million) were self-employed in non-farming/agriculture sectors. Additionally, 19.72 million individuals, equivalent to 25.42% of the total workers, were working for pay or wage. The categories of paid apprentices and unpaid house workers constituted 7.30% and 1.11% of the total workforce, respectively, engaged for at least one hour per week.
The report highlights that the labor market in Nigeria was dominated by the Agriculture sector, followed by Trade, Other Services, Manufacturing, and Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services. Until the third quarter of 2017, 48.19% of the total workers in Nigeria were engaged in agricultural work. Within this group, 29.59% worked full-time (40 hours per week), 12.13% worked 20-39 hours per week, and 6.46% worked less than 20 hours per week. Trade, Other Services, Manufacturing, and Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services accounted for 13.97% (10.85 million), 7.89% (6.12 million), 6.89% (5.41 million), and 6.37% (4.94 million) of the total working population, respectively.
However, the NBS report did not give specific figures or percentages of the people employed as rice farmers in Nigeria. Also, the official website of RIFAN is not active and no information about their employment can be traced.
CONCLUSION
The claim that the RIFAN has created 12 million jobs in Nigeria is UNPROVEN. There is no data or statistics backing the employment of RIFAN. Also, available data on employment in the country reflect the labor force statistics only up to the year 2017.
