Implementation
plans for the effective commencement of a number of the Social Investment
programmes of the Buhari presidency has reached advanced stages as the
selection of the first 200,000 unemployed graduates to get jobs is now being
completed.
Speaking
with a small group of Radio journalists and producers at the Presidential
Villa, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN disclosed that “we expect that before
the end of the month, we will engage 200,000,” out of the 500,000 unemployed
graduates the Buhari administration plans to hire in the N-Power jobs
programme.
According
to him, the direct government jobs is meant “to keep this young people occupied,
pay them some amount of money and also give them a device, which will also help
them to learn several skills that they can develop as time goes on.”
Prof.
Osinbajo added that “we expect that before the end of this month, we
should have engaged 200,000 of them and we are hoping that before the end of
the year we should have engaged more.”
Similarly,
Prof. Osinbajo disclosed that the Home-Grown School Feeding programme is set to
kick off in several states this month.
“Definitely
before the end of this month, we expect that several states would have come on
stream with their Home-grown School Feeding Programmes,” the Vice President
noted.
He
added that the Home-Grown School Feeding programme “will energise agriculture
in the different states because it is what you plant that you feed the children
with, we will be hiring caterers, cooks, etc in each state because it will be
Federal Government funded from Primaries 1-3 and the state governments
hopefully would be able to cater for the other classes.”
According
to the Vice President, the Home-Grown School Feeding programme is another
section of the Social Investment programmes that impact directly on the lives
of Nigerian children and families. He said several states will start
implementing the Home-grown School Feeding Programme before the end of October.
Equally
he stated that the Micro-Credit scheme for which the Buhari administration will
give very low-cost loans to more than one million Nigerian artisans, traders,
market women and other ranging from N60,000 to N100,000 would also be kicking
off this month.
According
to him, “for women across the country, we are giving loans, micro credit loans
to about 1.5 million women. We are focusing on market women and artisans, loans
between N60,000 and 100,000 each. We are working through the Bank of Industry,
BOI. They are going to be giving out these loans, we‘ve already identified the
banks and everybody who is involved in this. We should be flagging-off
hopefully before the end of this month”
Such
soft loans to the artisans, traders and market women, according to him, is
meant “to boost their businesses.”
The
Vice President reassured Nigerians that the current Federal Government led by
President Muhammadu Buhari is well focused on ameliorating the plight of the
citizens of the country, observing that the administration feels the pains of
the citizens and is committed to assuaging them.
Said
he: “We fully understand and appreciate
the situation of things in the country and we are committed to ensuring that
that pain is assuaged. The President stated that clearly in his October 1st broadcast
to the nation. All his life, he has been a salary earner, he has never been a
businessman, so he understands why someone who earns a salary and even those
who do not, are severely challenged at this time of economic recession such as
we are experiencing.”
On
the economy, Vice President Osinbajo said government is committed to developing
it, to enable citizens find opportunities within the country.
“I
want to assure Nigerians that the government of President Buhari is a very
focused and determined government. We are committed to ensuring that we are
able to develop the Nigerian economy in such a way that Nigerians are able to
find opportunities in their own country, “he said.
He
listed the ‘Made in Nigeria’ project, moving away from import dependence,
boosting agriculture, and encouraging manufacturing as some of the urgent
actions being pursued by government in order to move the country forward.
The
Vice President also emphasized the Buhari administration’s zero tolerance for
corruption, as corruption is “the major drain on the country’s resources”
adding that “no one would be spared in the fight against corruption because,
even the close friends of the President know that they will not be spared, he
will not cover for them. Fighting corruption is a priority,” he stressed.
On
the current recession, the Vice President said the fall in oil prices and
pipeline vandalism were the immediate causes of the recession, thus reducing
drastically, the country’s revenue. But he assured that government will
adequately manage the little being realised now.
“We
were producing up to 2.2 million barrels a day but all of a sudden, the
vandalization of our terminals caused us to loose up to a million barrels a
day.
“So
when you loose up to 60% of your revenue or even more, there must be a shock
because you are really earning very little and we will ensure that that very
little that we are earning is as well managed as possible,” he said.
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Politics