N-POWER TO ACCOMMODATE 1M BENEFICIARIES – OSINBAJO
N-POWER TO ACCOMMODATE 1M BENEFICIARIES –
OSINBAJO
Vice President
Yemi Osinbajo
The
N-Power programme of the Buhari-led administration will be expanded to
accommodate 1 million beneficiaries in the next phase, Vice-President Yemi
Osinbajo says.
Mr
Osinbajo was quoted as saying this in a statement by his senior special
assistant on media and publicity, Office of the Vice-President, Laolu Akande,
in Abuja on Tuesday.
Mr Akande
quoted Mr Osinbajo as having made the disclosure when he responded to questions
at a town hall meeting in Abuja.
The
vice-president said that N-Power was borne out of the growing need for
government direct intervention in job creation.
“The idea
of N-Power is supposed to be government own programme of direct employment and
training.
“At the
moment, we have taken up to 500,000 and in the next phase, we are looking at
another 200,000 and closely followed by another 300,000.
“In all,
we will be employing up to a million; and that will be the largest
post-tertiary job programme in entire Africa.
“The
reason why we have done this is because of the employment problems that we
have, we may not be able to engage everybody but at least, the government must
give some direct provision of jobs,“ Mr Osinbajo said.
He further
explained that the government could not pay more than the N30,000 currently to
beneficiaries and also fix all the unemployment issues.
He said,
however, said the federal government was working on creating the enabling
environment to ensure that beneficiaries, as well as other unemployed
Nigerians, become useful to themselves.
According to him, it is infrastructure that will create opportunities to
provide more jobs, especially through manufacturing and Industry.
“So, we
are doing roads and rail, providing power; that is the way we can develop the
industry. We are energising our markets at the moment, putting solar power in
the markets.
“We have
designated 300 markets, we have done Ariaria in the South-East, Sabon Gari in
Kano, Surat in Lagos, Isikan in Ondo, Gbagi in Oyo and we are expanding so that
more people can work.”
On the
need to engage more women in productive activities, Mr Osinbajo said one of the
ways the Buhari administration was engaging more women was through the
Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) loans.
Speaking
on the misconceptions about the borrowing arrangements of the Buhari
administration, the vice-president said that the country under Mr Buhari was
not in a terribly bad debt situation as insinuated in some quarters.
“I want to
give you the facts and figures on the debt issue. The dollar-denominated debts
of Nigeria – that is, the debts of the Federal Government, the States and Local
governments.
“In 2010,
Nigeria’s debt was 35 billion dollars; 2011, it was 41billion dollars; in 2012,
it was 48 billion dollars, in 2013, it became 64 billion dollars; 2014, it rose
to 67 billion dollars; 2015, it fell to 63 billion dollars; 2016, 57 billion
dollars; 2017, 70 billion dollars; 2018, it is 73 billion dollars.
“So, the
difference between 2015 and now is 10 billion dollars.
“One of
the things that I always want you to bear in mind is that, when oil prices were
at their highest between 2010 and 2014, that was when we had the sharpest rise
in debts.”
On the
ASUU strike, Mr Osinbajo said that the government was engaging the leadership
of the union, noting that the next meeting would be on Nov. 15.
On healthcare financing, Mr Osinbajo said the Buhari administration had done
much, even as it had earned 60 per cent less than the previous administrations.
Earlier,
the Ministers of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; Industry, Trade
and investment, Okey Enelamah; Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and Agriculture,
Audu Ogbe, responded separately to issues relating to their various ministries.
The town
hall meeting was organised by Act Now, a non-political group that works in
promoting transparency and good governance as well as youth participation in
governance. (NAN)
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