PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, disclosed that the Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria (YouWIN) programme has so far created over 27,000 jobs across the six geo-political zones in the country since inception.
Speaking at the launching of the third edition of the programme at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, he said the first phase created 22,000 jobs while the second phase which focused on women, created 5,000 jobs.
Jonathan had recalled that when his administration came on board in 2011, unemployment number in the country stood at 35 per cent, a figure which he said was unacceptable.
He said that was why government decided to launched a number of initiatives including YouWIN to address the job gaps.
The President said that even though the programme had been conceived to create 80,000 jobs initially, the target has been increased because of its success within a short period of time.
According to him, “Nigeria is one of those countries that have a very big percentage of young, not just young but vibrant and enterprising young people.
“When we came into office in 2011, the total numbers of unemployment in the country stood at 35 per cent and we considered that as unacceptable and in response, we launched a number of initiatives which included YouWIN to provide jobs for our citizens.
“ YouWIN Programme is unique in the sense that it depends on Nigerian youths to create jobs for other Nigerian youths.
“The programme supports enterprising young men and women to establish their own businesses that will enable them employ others,” he said.
Jonathan stressed his belief in the youth of the country, saying that, “they are not only vibrant, they are intelligent and hard working.”
The President, who inspected some products produced by beneficiaries of the programme which they exhibited at the occasion, commended the quality of the products, which he observed could compete favourably with foreign ones.
He stated: “They are quite encouraging and confirm that Nigeria has great youth entrepreneurs from interior decoration, through to chemical engineering, ICT and electrical engineering. We are all fascinated and we believe that Nigerian youths are taking this country to a great height.
“The products and services on display here can compete with the best in the world, they will not only support our domestic needs but they are also potential export revenue drive for this country.”
The President assured that the era of godfatherism in the country was gradually becoming a thing of the past just as he pointed out that YouWIN applicants do not need to be recommended by well connected people before being considered for grants.
He added that the third phase of the project was expected to create additional 3,600 jobs.
Speaking earlier, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the success of the programme was exemplified by the exhibition of products produced by past winners, saying “they have proved that given the right environment and support, they can produce goods and offer services that match or even exceed the quality of those we go broad to buy.”
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