Business
SURE-P Boss Expresses Optimism On Employment
The chairman of the
Subsidy Reinvestment and Employment Programme (SURE-P) Dr. Christpher Kolade, has said that with the sustained support of the programme from the Presidency, unemployment would be reduced in the country.
Kolade who spoke recently during the sensitisation and mobilisation programme which was organised by the Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) in Ado-Ekiti said that the President was passionate about solving unemployment problem through SURE-P.
Represented by the Technical Assistant to Community Services, Women and Youth Employment (CSWYE), he expressed optimism that through GIS, unemployment which has plagued the nation over the years would be surmounted.
The unemployment figure estimated by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that unemployed Nigerians stood at 23.9 per cent.
According to the Technical Director, “through the GIS, we have the mandate to create 50,000 jobs.
He stressed the importance of the sensitisation to enable the GIS achieve its set objectives.
The programme, organised by GIS in collaboration with Kalends consulting according to the Technical Assistant of (SWYE) was put in place to enable Nigerian graduate secure jobs through training and mentoring. Project director of GIS, Peter Parker in his contribution said in 2011 the NBS records indicated that the 23.9 per cent unemployed Nigerians to translated to about 40 million Nigerians in need of employment.
He noted one of the challenges plaguing unemployment was the inability to absorb nearly 30,000 graduates who come out from the universities across the country every year.
The chairman of SURE-P in Ekiti State, Mr. Femi Akinyemi said that about N120 million has so far been made available by the federal government to tackle unemployment in Ekiti State.