The Federal Government will employ more graduates in 2018 under the N-Power scheme, says Laolu Akande, aide to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Akande, an aide to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, said this on Saturday, adding that N900m was used for Special Intervention Programmes (SIP) by the Federal Government since 2016.
”In 2018, more beneficiaries are expected to be added to about 200,000 young graduates currently employed under the scheme,” Akande said.
”A total of N900 billion was appropriated for the SIPs in 2016 and 2017; with N500 billion appropriated for 2016 and N400 billion appropriated for 2017.
”However, the total amount released was N110 billion for 2016 and 2017, with the total expenditure of N109 billion.”
In addition, he noted that over 6 million pupils are being fed by the Federal Government school feeding programme.
Akanded revealed that the scheme is operational in 20 states of the federation.
According to him: ”More states are expected to be added to the programme this year. The NHGSFP plans to implement feeding in a total of 28 States, while it aims to link farmers to school feeding markets.
”In the same vein, several milestones were recorded by the Buhari administration’s National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP) in 2017, in line with its inclusive growth plan, which includes tackling poverty and hunger, and creating jobs for Nigerians.
“About 40,000 direct jobs have since been created from the School Feeding Programme across the participating states. The 20 states that have so far been covered by the NHGSFP include Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta, Abia, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi, Taraba, Kaduna, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Jigawa, Niger, and Kano.”
