I’m the first president to create 5,000 jobs in Nigeria’s history – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday boasted that his administration
is the first in Nigeria's history to create 5,400 direct jobs for the
nation's unemployed youths.
He said the feat was achieved through the Federal Government's Youth
Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YouWin).
Jonathan spoke during the presidential launch of Youth
Entrepreneurship Strategy at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential
Villa, Abuja.
The programme was designed to encourage youth employment and self-reliance.
Jonathan also said 2,500 entrepreneurs empowered by his administration
had also created an average of nine jobs each therefore bringing the
total jobs created to 22,000.
The President said, "This will be the first government in the history
of Nigeria that will directly create 5,400 jobs through the YouWin
programmes.
"I am also proud to say that the 2,500 entrepreneurs have created
anaverage of nine jobs each making it a total of 22,000 jobs so far.
"Entrepreneurs are the engine room of the Nigeria's economy as they
are responsible for more than 60 percent of our $510bn Gross Domestic
Product and the MSMEs are responsible for almost 98 percent of the new
jobs created in our economy on an annual basis.
"The new jobs we are targeting will come from the SMEs."
Jonathan expressed delight that the success story of his
administration's job creation efforts is impressive and beyond
expectation.
The failure rate of the programme, he added, is less than 10 percent.
He said his administration at inception identified unemployment among
youths as one of the greatest challenges to tackle.
This, he said, was the reason why his government took numerous steps
to tackle the challenge.
He said his administration's target was to create not less than two
million jobs annually.
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Minister of Youth Development, Mr. Boni Haruna, had earlier described
the programme as private sector-driven initiative that seeks to
empower youth.
The Chief Executive Officer of Anabel Group, Mr. Nicholas Okoye, said
the present administration had empowered over seven million youths.
Okoye said the figure had surpassed the total of those empowered by
previous administrations put together.
"Those who say you (Jonathan) have not done anything for the youth are
simply not saying the truth," he said.
Describing all Nigerian problems are subset of employment crisis among
the youth, Okoye commended the Federal Government for tackling the
challenge headlong.
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