Amidst the plethora of previous promises of job creation, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime will provide 20 million jobs for Nigerian youths in a “couple of years.”

The regime has continually insisted that it would lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty though many have further fallen into penury.

As part of the regime’s flurry of efforts, Mr Buhari inaugurated a new poverty committee in June, appointing Mr Osinbajo as the chairman.

Specifically, Mr Osinbajo stated on Monday, in Abuja, that no fewer than 20 million young Nigerians would be impacted with digital skills through an initiative of the regime and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.

Mr Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement, said this was part of a pre-recorded message delivered by the vice president at the official launch of the Generation Unlimited (GenU) programme in Nigeria.

GenU is a global, multi-sector partnership initially launched in September 2018, in collaboration with over 200 partners and impacting over 100 million young people globally through innovations and programmes in more than 40 countries across six continents.

He said the initiative, which offered expanded education, training, and employment, targeting 20 million Nigerians aged between 10 and 24 years, from 2021 to 2030, would positively impact future job growth enabling programmes.

“This programme is important because it promises to provide 20 million Nigerians with digital skills, link them to entrepreneurial and other job opportunities and assist them in realising their full potentials,” he explained. “Over the next couple of years, we will provide digital learning, employment, entrepreneurship, and engagement for and with 20 million young Nigerians.”

Mr Osinbajo further explained that the “process is not only significant for our socio-economic development” as a nation in the coming years but also “provides a learning asset” for developing future job growth-enabling programmes.

“Nigeria has one of the world’s largest young populations, and it bears repeating that our country’s youths are the nation’s present and indeed its future; the cost of failing to invest in them is quite simply unimaginable,” Mr Osinbajo said. “So, we are excited to be a part of the ambitious goal of reaching young Nigerians with this opportunity.”

He admitted that “work is massive, and we know we cannot achieve this objective without strong partnerships.”

(NAN)