Lagos gets 20,000 slots from 774,000 Extended Special Public Works programme

Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said that the state will get 20,000 slots out of 774,000 jobs for Nigerians across all the Local Government Areas in the country being offered by the Federal Government through its Extended Special Public Works (SPW) Programme.

The programme is being implemented through the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in collaboration with state governments and other relevant stakeholders.

Sanwo-Olu disclosed this at the official flag-off of the programme in the Federal Government, held at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa-Ikeja, even as he called for increased allocation to the state, citing increasing population, attraction of Lagos, among others to all Nigerians with every village or town having its representative living in the state.

“While we appreciate the efforts of the Federal Government through this initiative, we would like to appeal for an increase in the allocation for Lagos State in consideration of the increasing population that must be catered for,” he said.

The governor, who spoke through his deputy, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, while noting that the initiative was taking off at the right time when governments at all level needed to do everything possible to stem the tide of rising unemployment and also cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the people, stated that it would also complement the state government’s efforts geared toward providing support and creating opportunities for young people to be productively engaged.

“Our administration and indeed the Lagos State government has always been a stakeholder and partner of the Federal Government in the quest to achieve the growth and development of our economy for the benefit of our people.

“The Extended Special Public Works Jobs Programme being flagged off today, is the brainchild of the Federal Government and one of the strategies to address the issue of unemployment,” Sanwo-Olu stated.

This was just as the governor recalled that the state government a couple of weeks ago, flagged off its Graduate Internship Placement Programme, an initiative it is implementing in collaboration with private sector organisations, noting that the State Employment Trust Fund had also been effective in delivering on its mandate through the support it had given and continued to give to young people whose creative entrepreneurial ideas had been transformed into micro and small businesses.

Besides, Governor Sanwo-Olu disclosed that his administration had made substantial provision in this year’s budget for human capacity development especially for the youths.

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“In addition to the various employment generation programmes being implemented, he disclosed that his administration has made substantial provision in this year’s budget for human capacity development especially for the youths,” he said.

He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for providing the leadership that had enabled the successful take-off of the programme and appreciated the efforts and enterprise put in by the team that had worked so hard to make the event a reality in spite of the challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic.

Sanwo-Olu, while congratulating the 20,000 Lagosians who had been selected to participate in the programme, urged the participants to be at their very best and be good ambassadors of the state, adding that their attitude and commitment to the assignment would flag more opportunities for the teeming unemployed in Lagos State.

Minister for Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, earlier in his address, disclosed that the Extended Special Public Works Programme was an outcome of the Pilot Special Public Works Programmes in the Rural Area approved by President Muhammadu Buhari and was implemented in eight states of the Federation in order to gauge its impact on addressing the ballooning population of the unemployed and rising insecurity in some part of the country.

According to the minister, who was represented by the Federal Controller of Works, Lagos State, Engr. Kayode Popoola, the strategy was adopted to fast-track the achievement of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017 – 2020), saying that the programme was targeted at immediately engaging 774,000 selected unemployed Nigerians to execute carefully selected projects across the 774 Local Government Areas in the country.

He added that each participating local government identified its preferred projects and would be responsible for ensuring that they were executed as planned, stressing that all tools and equipment required for the programme had been provided hence the Federal Government expected a strong commitment from all stakeholders in ensuring efficient implementation.

In his welcome address, the Acting Director General, National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, who was also represented by the Director, Human Resources, Mrs Adeola Awulat Shafar, emphasised that the programme is a very significant step in Nigeria’s quest to win the war against mass unemployment as well as to ameliorate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Extended Special Public Works programme has been designed as a veritable tool through which the lives of 774,000 unemployed Nigerians would be positively touched in the next three months.

“Our communities will receive a facelift through the activities of the participants as they will engage in various community-specific public works activities ranging from drainage clearing and maintenance, vegetation control, feeder road maintenance, irrigation, among many others,” he said.

He, therefore, charged all participants from the state to reciprocate the gesture of the Federal Government by diligently executing their assigned tasks through the duration of the programme.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE