By Bode Olagoke
Abuja
The Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) in Kebbi said yesterday that it had provided jobs for 3,000 unemployed youths in the last six months.
Its chairman in the state, Alhaji Samaila Dankasa, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Birnin Kebbi.
Dankasa said 70 per cent of the registered youths were male, while the remaining 30 per cent were female.
He said the registration was conducted across the 225 electoral wards in the state.
The chairman said some of the registered youths had been recruited into the local vigilance groups, while others secured placements as messengers and clerks in private and public organisations.
“We also placed some of the youths in traffic control and environmental sanitation,” he said.
Dankasa said his office recently paid N180 million to the engaged youths as their six months cumulative stipends covering December, 2013 to June 2014, at the rate of N10, 000 each.
He said “this will reduce poverty, especially among the rural populace,” and urged beneficiaries of the programme to be committed and dedicated to their duties, assuring that the scope would be expanded to cover a higher proportion of the youth.
NAN reports that the Kebbi state government registered 5,000 unemployed youths for the SURE-P in 2013.
The beneficiaries were trained on tree-planting and other skills which included welding, carpentry, weaving, computer education, leather work and tailoring.
