President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday said his government has made history as the first in the country to create 5,400 direct jobs for the teeming unemployed youths.
He spoke when he launched the 5th edition of the YouWin at the Presidential Villa.
Jonathan noted that 2,500 young entrepreneurs, who benefited from the empowerment programme, had on their own created an average of nine jobs each. This, he said, brings the total jobs created through the YouWin programme designed to encourage youth employment and self-reliance to 22,000.
Jonathan said, “This will be the first government in the history of Nigeria to directly create 5,400 jobs through any programme. I am also proud to say that the 2,500 entrepreneurs have created an average of nine jobs each making it a total of 22,000 jobs so far.
“Entrepreneurs are the engine room of Nigeria’s economy as they are responsible for more than 60 per cent of the country’s $510 billion gross domestic product (GDP) and the micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) are responsible for almost 98 per cent of the new jobs created in our economy on an annual basis. The new jobs we are targeting will come from the SMEs.”
Noting that at inception his administration identified unemployment among youths as one of the greatest challenges facing the country, the president said the government took numerous steps to tackle the challenge and added that his administration’s target was to create not less than two million jobs annually, and boasted that the success story is impressive and beyond expectation.
Jonathan further urged those who were privileged in the country to support young Nigerians by signing up and join the league of supper mentors.
He said, “I also want to encourage all of us here today and the privileged ones all across Nigeria to support our young people all over Nigeria by signing up and joining the coalition of Super Mentors on the NYENET.com portal.
“I already consider myself a Super Mentor and I expect that many more of us will follow in this direction, as it will improve the lives of millions of our young people”.
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