The 774,000 Federal government Special Public Works Jobs of the federal government will inject N780m into the economy of Nasarawa State in the next three months through the youth empowerment scheme.
The Nasarawa State chairman of the Special Public Works Programme, Dr Kasim Mohammed Kasim said at the flagging off of the programme Tuesday in Lafia that the Programme would not only boost the economic status of the but lift the youth out of poverty.
According to the state chairman of the Programme, “at the end of three months, each of the 13 Local Government Areas of the state would be injected with the sum of N60m”
He added that N20m would be injected into the economy of the council areas monthly explaining further that each of the 13,000 artisans recruited for the programme in the state would be earning a monthly allowance of N20,000 during the duration of the three exercises.
Flagging-off the programme, Governor Abdullahi Sule lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for its various intervention programme aimed at alleviating the hardship being experienced by the unemployed youths in Nigeria.
Dr. Muhammed Kassim who appealed for logistics support from the state government to ensure the success of the scheme stated that the success of the programme depended largely on the support and cooperation of the state government especially in the provision of vehicles and other logistics to enhance seamless execution of the exercise.
On his part, Minister of State Labour and Productivity, Festus Keyamo while flagging off the programme in the state, explained that the Extended Special Public Works Programme was targeted at unskilled youths, women, and persons with disabilities.
He said the initiative by the Buhari administration to reduce unemployment in the country needed the support of all Nigerians to realize a reduction of unemployed in the country.
Governor Abdullahi Sule commended the federal government for the initiative and called on stakeholders especially the traditional institutions, religious and opinion leaders to ensure an enabling environment to achieve the desired results.
The governor urged the beneficiaries to take advantage of the programme and focus on the skills they would acquire at the end of the three months of exercise.
Sule announced that his administration has rolled out various complementary empowerment programmes for the benefit of youths in the state.
Governor Sule stated that only proper monitoring and supervision would guarantee the survival of the programme calling on the beneficiaries not to depend on the immediate benefit but to use the programme to build their future.
