The Presidency has posited that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s life trajectory should inspire the youths in the country.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated that Tinubu was able to overcome all manners of challenges in his life and now finds himself as the President.
In an interview with TheCable at the weekend, he said President Tinubu’s administration has created lofty programmes for Nigerian youths, such as the student loan scheme and benefits to the unemployed youth, among others.
The presidential aide added that the Tinubu government is youth-centric and has a bias to help the Nigerian youths.
“His (Tinubu) story should inspire people, not just the youths but all Nigerians. This is a person who was able to overcome all manners of challenges and now finds himself at the pinnacle of governance in Nigeria. That is an inspiring story not just for youths but generally all Nigerians.
“If they are saying that, it means they haven’t been following the many lofty programmes this government has for Nigerian youths. For instance, the government will soon roll out the student loan scheme.
“In addition to that, the government is not only giving students in the universities and polytechnics loans, it is extending it to vocational institutions, that is people who didn’t attend tertiary institutions but who want to learn some skills outside of the university system.
“The original plan was to give the loans to students in the tertiary institutions but the president said, ‘No, let us extend the loans to those in vocational institutions.’
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“In addition, the president has said he is going to give unemployment benefits to graduates who are yet to get jobs. The government is doing a lot for young Nigerians. For example, look at what the ministry of communications and digital economy is doing.
“They are training three million Nigerian youths on IT skills. Once this training is completed, they become certified by Google and other IT certifying bodies and they will be linked up with institutions here in Nigeria or abroad that will employ them based on their skills.
“This initiative aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s objective to create a million tech jobs within his first two years in office. So, how can somebody say that a government that is doing this does not like the youths of Nigeria?
“Also, the ministry of trade has a programme for training 10 million artisans in two years. These artisans would be trained under the Skill-Up Artisans Programme (SUPA) facilitated by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF).
“Aside from that, the government is targeting another one million jobs in a talent exchange programme where artisans from Nigeria can get jobs abroad. You will agree with me that if you are a welder, plumber, electrician, you need good training in order to deliver excellent jobs to people.
“The Ministry of Trade is also planning to set up job centres for young Nigerians. The president created the ministry of youth and also created ministry of sports separately. Before now, these two ministries were fused together but he decided to separate them so that individual attention can be given to the youths and sports.
“Is that an indication that the president does not like the youth? Those saying the president has no plans for the youths don’t know what they are talking about. I must admit that this government is youth-centric. It has a bias to help the Nigerian youths.”
