President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday said the Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria, YouWiN Programme has created about 26,000 jobs since inception two years ago.
He disclosed at the launch of the third phase of the programme at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The President said his administration targets creation of 80,000 jobs through the programme, adding that “Nigeria is one of those countries that have a very big percentage of young, not just young but vibrant and enterprising young people”.
According to him, the first phase of YouWiN created 21, 000 jobs, while the second phase which focused on only women has so far created 5,000 jobs.
“I am happy to report that so far, over 26,000 direct jobs have been created across our six geo political zones. This includes 22,000 from the YouWiN phase 1 and over 5000 from YouWin, 2.
“Let me restate that I believe strong in the youth of this great country, they are not only vibrant, they are intelligent and hard working”.
He also recalled that “When we came into office in 2011, the total numbers of unemployment in the country stood at 35% and we considered that as unacceptable and in response! we launched a number of initiatives which included the YOUWiN to provide jobs for our citizens.
“The 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”.
President Jonathan who inspected the various products exhibited by the beneficiaries of the YouWin phase 1 & 2, was excited by the rate of the programme.
He spoke further about the activities of the beneficiaries, saying “They are quite encouraging and confirm that Nigeria has great youth from interior decoration, through to chemical engineering, ICT and elders 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, will not only support our domestic needs but they are also potentially export revenue drive for this country”.
He commended the Minister of Finance and other stakeholders for ensuring that ‘Godfatherism’ does not have a role to play in the selection process.
“There is no ‘Godfatherism’ in this programme, Nigeria is the Godfather of all. I will like to urge all well meaning Nigerians -state governments, corporate organisations and development partners to join hands to build on the gains of this programme.
“With YouWin, we are gradually building the middle class of Nigerians”, adding that some of the top billionaires of Nigeria in the next 20 to 30 years would come from the YouWin programme,” the President said.
Speaking earlier, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, described the launch of the third phase of the YouWin programme as memorable after the successes recorded in the first and second phase.
While reporting that the second phase which focussed mainly on women has been very successful, Okonjo-Iweala commended the President’s commitment to creating jobs for the teaming Nigerian youths.Present at the launch were ministers, presidential aides, top government functionaries and the participants drawn from across the country.
