The N-Power programme of the
Buhari-led administration will be expanded to accommodate 1 million
beneficiaries in the next phase, Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo says.
Osinbajo said this in a statement
by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Office of the
Vice-President, Laolu Akande in Abuja on Tuesday.
Akande quoted 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.
He said: “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 the
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, government must give some direct provision of
jobs.”
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 the opportunities to provide more jobs,
especially through manufacturing and Industry.
He said: “So, we are doing roads
and rail, providing power; that is the way we can develop 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, Osinbajo that one of the ways the Buhari
administration was engaging more women was through the Government Enterprise
and Empowerment Programme loans.
Speaking on the misconceptions
about the borrowing arrangements of the Buhari administration, the vice-president
said that the country under Buhari was not in a terribly bad debt situation as
insinuated in some quarters.
He said: “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, Osinbajo said
that government was engaging the leadership of the union, noting that the next
meeting would be on November 15.
On healthcare financing, 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, Dr Okey
Enelamah; Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and Agriculture, Dr 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.
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