Npower: Our target is to train 10m graduates by 2023 - Osinbajo

The vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, disclosed that the federal government has set a target of training 10 million graduates in Nigeria under the N-Power programme by 2023.

Vanguard reports that Osinbajo made this known in a special lecture he delivered on “The Challenges of Human Development in 21st Century Africa” at Oxford University, United Kingdom.

The vice president maintained that the programme has provided jobs for 500, 000 young Nigerian graduates in the last two years.
.According to him, “Over the past two years, through the N-Power programme, the largest post-tertiary employment programme in Africa, we have been able to offer skills development programmes digitally to over 500,000 young citizens between the ages of 18 and 35. We have set a target of skilling 10 million Nigerians by 2023.”

On his part, Laolu Akande, senior special assistant to the vice president on media and publicity, said funding for the continued payments for beneficiaries of the scheme is contained in the 2018 budget.

He added that beyond the payments of stipends, the federal government is also exploring further options to seamlessly move the beneficiaries from the government job programme to positions where they were able to earn a sustainable income.

Akande said the transition would be through a plan designed to enable them become valuable, all-rounded employees, employers or entrepreneurs.

He stated: “The plan is basically an extension of the exit date of December 2018 for the first batch of 200,000 to enable them continue to offer their valuable services in their various communities while still earning their stipends.

“They are also to partake in the Enhancement Programme that would seamlessly transition them into numerous economic opportunities in both the public and private sectors of the economy.

“The N-Power beneficiaries applied and were selected for the programme in an objective, efficient and transparent manner, without the need for ‘connections’ to anyone of influence.

That was contained in a statement by the senior special assistant to the vice president on media and publicity, Laolu Akande