Wednesday, August 10,
2016
TheFederal Government
has announced plans to employ 5,000 youths this year through the N-Power scheme
of the Nigeria Social Investment Programme of the Federal Government.
Special Adviser to the
President on Federal Government Social Investments, Mrs Mariam Uwais, made the
disclosure in Benin City, Edo State, yesterday.
Speaking at a stake holders
sensitisation workshop of the Social Investment Programme, Mrs Uwais said:
"We intend to employ 500,000 unemployed graduates in this first year. It
is open to all unemployed Nigerian graduates between the ages of 18 and 35. All
you need to do is to go on to the portal that has been opened, and it closes on
August 31, 2016.”
The portal is www.npower.gov.ng".
On his part, Governor
Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for initiating
the programme for the benefit of the less privileged in the country.
Governor Oshiomhole
said, "Let me, on behalf of the government and the great people of Edo
State, appreciate our president, Buhari, for making history in appropriating
funds specifically directed at children of the poor in public schools by way of
one meal a day for children from primary one to three, recognising that whereas
many Nigerians are poor, some are much poorer than others, and that it is not
their fault.
"Government has
responsibility to identify those ones, the poorest of the poor, not to shed
crocodile tears for them or with them, but to boldly appropriate public funds
structured in a way that will deliver some relief to these categories of our
country men and women."
He said, "For too
long, everybody laments the growing numbers of unemployed youths, and in this
democracy, the youths are the most active, they are the most vibrant. Everybody
says the youths are the leaders of tomorrow, but we are unable to define when
is tomorrow.
I believe President
Muhammadu Buhari has defined tomorrow to mean today, and that government needs
to demonstrate beyond rhetoric that not only do we reject this unacceptable
level of youth idleness, but government at the highest level has created a
scheme that will enable some of these youths to be engaged, including being
engaged in teaching, being encouraged to acquire skills, and to make them what
they should be: part of our human resource which is the most important resource
any country needs to grow on a sustainable basis."
He continued, "For
me, I am particularly excited with the school feeding programme. I am excited
because given our shared commitment, and I think the world over that every
child has a right, a constitutional right, in fact, inalienable right to go to
school. What more can we do not to only to get the child to go to school, but
to ensure that at least he is guaranteed a meal while at school so that he will
be in a state of mind to be able to benefit from teaching and learning.
"In Edo State, we
recognize education as the foundation of any attempt to empower anyone. And
that is why have devoted huge resources every year, first by rebuilding our
schools and making them attractive to young children, trying to deal with
inequality between urban and rural areas by ensuring that the qualities of
schools in our cities are exactly the same standard you find in any village
where we have rebuild schools.
The same furniture you
will find in these schools is exactly the same furniture you will find in the
most remote village where we have rebuilt the schools and re-equipped them so
that our children do not grow up with inferiority complex in relation to the
children of the rich, because society cannot enjoy peace on a sustainable basis
if there is no justice and fairness."
According to Governor
Oshiomhole, "And that is why we commend Mr. President for this very bold
initiative, and above all and order to demonstrate that he understands clearly
that he is the President of Nigeria, not president of a political party, he has
chosen by appointing Mrs. Maryam Uwais. The President has done his part. He has
found the will to appropriate. He has found the resources even in this
difficult time to set funds aside to get this done. He has identified credible
men and women under the able the leadership of Mrs Uwais to provide leadership
for this particular project."
While announcing the
plans of the Federal Government for Nigerians, Special Adviser to the President
on Federal Government Social Investments, Mrs. Uwais said, "the government
is concerned that despite the fact that we have so many people in Nigeria,
fifty eight million of Nigerians are considered poor, and the inequality gap
has increased. The gap between male and female, the poverty gap is very large.
And there is a need now to ensure that resources are spread more evenly across
the country and so our social protection programmes are essentially ones that
are aimed at bridging inequalities between the rich and the poor. Since 2000
and today, there has been twenty six programmes implemented by the federal
government."
She said, "In
addressing these issues, the federal government has come up with five
programmes. It has set up an office within the office of the Vice President in
the Presidency to ensure effective monitoring to deliver standard mechanism
that will be sustainable to avoid duplication of roles to ensure proper
coordination and synergy among key ministries and also between the various
levels of government."
Mrs. Uwais continued,
"Our programmes are designed to reduce poverty and inequality, also to
jumpstart progress and human development through conditional cash transfer, job
creation, school feeding, skills development, education and financial
inclusion. A lot of people remain outside the financial landscape. We want to
stimulate productivity, feeding for people to be able to have cash in their
hands. We need a more sustainable and more inclusive growth. We need reduced
poverty rate."
According to her,
"We have cash transfer programme which is going to be money sent to
beneficiaries directly in the different communities. And we have an enterprise
and empowerment programme which is access to credit for market women, for women
cooperatives, for youths and for farmers. And we have bursary programme which
is to encourage young children and students in secondary schools. It is a
bursary programme that will be given to them, those that have admission to
study science, technology, engineering, mathematics and education. The N-Power
is a volunteer corps for graduate and non-graduate. It is training for
empowerment and also for knowledge."
SOURCE: VANGUARD