FG’s Massive Investment in Social Programmes Mostly For Youths’ Benefit – Minister

the Federal Government’s massive investment in Social Programmes will
help accelerate the process of job creation, especially for the youths.

Speaking at the Special Edition of the FG’s Town Hall Meeting for
Youths in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister also said the government
places a serious premium on youth empowerment, youth development and
youth engagement, hence the decision to organize the Town Hall Meeting
specifically for them,

”We have no choice because, according to the National Population
Commission, more than half of Nigeria’s population are under 30 years
of age! No government can afford to ignore this important demographic
group, plus the youths are no longer just the leaders of tomorrow, but
today’s leaders too!” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed said the Administration is investing massively in the
Social Investment Programmes that benefit youths, listing them as
including the N-Power Volunteer Scheme; the N-Power Job Creation
Programme that provides loans for traders and artisans; the Home-grown
School Feeding Programme, the Conditional Cash Transfers to the most
vulnerable members of the society and the Family Homes Fund, a social
housing scheme.

”As many of you are undoubtedly aware, 200,000 jobs were created in
the first phase of the N-Power Volunteers Programme. That is perhaps
the highest number of jobs that have been created in one fell swoop by
any government in the history of our country. Some 300,000 jobs are
next in line, to bring the total to the promised 500,000 jobs. These
jobs benefit mostly the youths who will be engaged the areas of
education, health care and agriculture

”Also, the Home-grown School Feeding has already taken off in three
states – Anambra, Kaduna and Osun. It is now being scaled up to 11 of
the 18 states designated for the first phase. Already, some 25,000
cooks have been trained in 9 states. Concerning the Conditional Cash
Transfer, the data of the beneficiaries in 9 states are now ready, and
the payment process for those states is in top gear.

”For the Micro-credit scheme, more than 1 million Nigerians are set
to get loans at very low interest rates through the bank of industry.
The loans range from N20,000 to N100,000. The pilot scheme is taking
place in 8 states and here in the Federal Capital Territory,” he
said.

The Minister disclosed that in order to sustain the Social Investment
Programme, the N500 billion Naira for the programme has been retained
in the 2017 budget, which was recently presented to the National
Assembly by Mr. President.

He said on its part, the Ministry of Information and Culture is
leveraging on the Creative Industry, which is youth-driven, to create
jobs and unleash the huge potentials of the youths.

”We have signed two Memoranda of Understanding with the Tony Elumelu
Foundation and the British Council to train festival managers, build
the capacity of our youths and link the Creative Industry with the
Business World. Our imminent transition from Analogue to Digital
Broadcasting is set to create 1 million jobs in 3 years, with most of
those jobs going to the youths.

”These jobs are already being created as we speak. This is because as
the Digital Switch Over train arrives in Abuja this Thursday and then
proceeds to other parts of the country, we will need hordes of
installers, retailers, repair technicians and marketers for the
set-top boxes or decoders that will be required to meet the demand of
the 24 million TV households,” Alhaji Mohammed said, adding that the
huge quantum of content that will be required for the DSO would also
provide opportunities for the ”creative mind and the
technically-savvy”.

The Minister said the government was working hard to ease the hardship
in the land, and sought the ”undiluted support” of the youths in
this regard.

”This Government is unrelenting in its efforts to ease the hardship
in the land, especially youth unemployment, brought about by years of
poor or lack of planning, profligacy, mismanagement of funds, massive
corruption and lack of investment in social investment programmes. We
did not create today’s hardship, but we are resolved to end it and
make life more abundant for our people,” he added.

The Town Hall Meeting, which started in Lagos in April and has also
been held in Kaduna, Kano, Uyo, Enugu and Abuja, was introduced to
bridge the communication gap between the government and the citizens
and also to serve as a feedback mechanism for government programmes.