President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday
boasted that his was the first administration in the history of the
country to create 5,400 direct jobs for the nation’s unemployed youths.
The President said the feat was achieved
through the Federal Government’s Youth Enterprise with Innovation in
Nigeria, otherwise called YouWin.
Jonathan spoke during the inauguration
of the Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy at the old Banquet Hall of the
Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The programme was designed to encourage youth employment and self-reliance.
Jonathan also said 2,500 entrepreneurs
empowered by his administration had also created an average of nine jobs
each, therefore, bringing the total jobs created to 22,000.
The President said, “This will be the
first government in the history of Nigeria that will directly create
5,400 jobs through the YouWin programmes. I am also proud to say that
the 2,500 entrepreneurs have created an average of nine jobs each,
making it a total of 22,000 jobs so far.
“Entrepreneurs are the engine room of
Nigeria’s economy as they are responsible for more than 60 per cent of
our $510bn Gross Domestic Product and the MSMEs are responsible for
almost 98 per cent of the new jobs created in our economy on an annual
basis.
“The new jobs we are targeting will come from the SMEs.”
Jonathan expressed delight that the
success story of his administration’s job creation efforts was
impressive and beyond expectation.
The failure rate of the programme, he added, was less than 10 per cent.
He said his administration at inception identified unemployment among youths as one of the greatest challenges to tackle.
This, he said, was the reason why his government took numerous steps to tackle the challenge.
He said his administration’s target was to create not less than two million jobs annually.
The Minister of Youth Development, Mr.
Boni Haruna, had earlier described the programme as a private
sector-driven initiative that sought to empower youth.
The Chief Executive Officer of Anabel
Group, Mr. Nicholas Okoye, said the present administration had empowered
over seven million youths.
Okoye said the figure had surpassed the total of those empowered by previous administrations put together.
“Those who say you (Jonathan) have not done anything for the youth are simply not saying the truth,” he said.
Noting that all Nigerian problems are
subset of employment crisis among the youth, Okoye commended the Federal
Government for tackling the challenge headlong.
…hosts special media chat today
President Goodluck Jonathan will on
Wednesday (today) host what the Presidency described as a special
edition of presidential media chat.
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