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FG to create 370,000 jobs via SURE-Programme

The federal government has announced plans to create jobs for 370,000 unemployed youth across the country via its Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme SURE-Programme. The … Continue reading FG to create 370,000 jobs via SURE-Programme


The federal government has announced plans to create jobs for 370,000 unemployed youth across the country via its Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme SURE-Programme.

The coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, announced this at the launch of community services, women and youth employment project of the SURE-P in Minna, the Niger state capital.

The SURE-Programme is a re-investment initiative by the federal government following wides-spread protest that greeted the withdrawal of fuel subsidy, earlier in the year.

The programme is financed by savings from the saved fuel subsidy, which will in place, be re-invested in the much needed infrastructural development. But a partial return of the subsidy due to the protest, has limited the execution of the planned SURE-Programme.

However, Dr Okonjo-Iweala told her audience in Minna, that contrary to some speculation, the federal government is determined to fully implement SURE-Programme to fruition.

The Minister of Finance revealed that the federal government has so far saved N60 billion from the removal of fuel subsidy.

She identified job creation as the surest way to tackle the raising insurgency in some parts of the country.

Present at the launch was the governor of Niger state, Babangida Aliyu, who lamented the rising rate unemployment in the country. He was however upbeat about the provision of jobs to the youth by the federal government via the SURE-Programme.

According to the governor, the only way the country can experience economic transformation is by empowering the youth who form over 70 percent of the country’s population.

Mr Aliyu, one the major proponents of the removal of fuel subsidy, used the event to explain the reason behind his support for the removal of the subsidy.

Over 300 unemployed   Nigerians were enrolled for the SURE-Programme in Niger state, which is the first state to officially launch the programme in the country.

Unemployed women and youths from across Niger state converged in the state capital to be part of the launch.

The Vice-chairman of the SURE-Programme, Retired Major-General Mamman Kontagora, also noted that the only way to maintain peace and stability in the country is through empowerment of the people.