Nigerian Concord Newspaper
The recent debate over the 100,000 jobs yearly promise by the PDP governorship candidate, Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa SAN, has exposed an interesting misunderstanding of how employment can actually be created in an economy.
Aondoakaa said his administration, if elected in 2027, would target the creation of at least 100,000 jobs annually through partnerships with the private sector.
Rather than interrogating how such a target could be achieved, some supporters of Governor Hyacinth Alia, including Orkuma Adzua Ikyur Madah, have focused on dismissing the promise as unrealistic saying Benue Civil Service can not accommodate that.
Benue does not need another government that simply adds thousands of workers to the civil service. What the state needs is an economy capable of creating jobs through agriculture, agro-processing, mining, manufacturing, trade, cooperatives, technology and private investment.
Benue’s investment authorities identify enormous agricultural and mineral potential, including yam, soybean, cassava, rice, limestone, barytes, kaolin, coal and iron ore etc .
Imagine what happens when farmers have affordable credit, cooperatives have access to finance, agricultural products are processed locally, mineral resources are processed instead of exported in raw form, and investors are given the infrastructure and security necessary to establish factories.
The jobs would not only be factory jobs. They would include farmers, drivers, traders, mechanics, technicians, marketers, processors, accountants, security personnel, logistics operators and countless other workers along the value chain.
Even the present administration has acknowledged the employment potential of these sectors. In March 2026, the Benue Government announced a proposed $530 million agro-industrial investment covering production, storage, processing and logistics, with thousands of direct and indirect jobs projected.
So the question is not whether 100,000 jobs must come from government payroll. They clearly don’t.
The real question is whether Benue can deliberately build an economy capable of generating that level of employment.
That is a legitimate debate for 2027.
Instead of abusing Aondoakaa for making an ambitious promise, his critics should ask him to publish the roadmap, sectors, financing mechanisms, private-sector partners and measurable timelines for achieving it.
Politics should not be a competition over who can shout “impossible!” the loudest.
It should be a competition over who has the better economic plan for turning Benue’s enormous resources into jobs and prosperity.
Wantaregh Leonard Ikyem Jnr
Writes as a Development Communication Specialist.