Social Investment Programmes (SIP): FG Set to Employ 350,000 More Graduates

The federal gov­ernment has in­cluded in the 2017 Budget a plan to hire 350,000 more unem­ployed graduates under the N-Power Volunteer Corps of the Social Investment Programmes (SIP).
According to the Se­nior Special Assiatant on Media & Publicity to the Vice President, Mr Laolu Akande, the plan is expected to gulp N157.75 billion as pro­posed in the budget.
Akande declared that a lot more is to come, and therefore, urged Ni­gerians to actively take advantage of the differ­ent schemes this year.

Out of the N-Power 2017 N157B 2017 bud­get, “350,000 more unemployed gradu­ates would be hired and trained, alongside 50,000 non-graduates youths to be engaged as artisans and in other creative ventures”, Akan­de disclosed yeserday.
He further explained that under the N157.75 billion also, a sum of N4.5billion has been earmarked for the Sci­ence, Technology, Engi­neering and Mathemat­ics, STEM, programme to support young Nige­rians in building skills in those disciplines.
“While we were able to engage 200,000 un­employed graduates last year, we will do 350,000 more this year”, he as­sured, adding that some of the teething problems are giving way to lessons that would smoothen implementation under the 2017 Budget.
“Equally, under the 2017 Budget proposals now before the National Assembly, Akande dis­closed that about N75 billion has been allo­cated for the National Homegrown School Feeding Programme which will provide one hot meal a day to five million primary school pupils.