Guardian

THE unemployed youths and women in Adamawa State will soon put their plight behind them, as the state Implementation Committee of Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme [SURE-P] has begun the recruitment of 3,000 youths this month.

The Adamawa State Implementation Committee Chairman, Alhaji Salihu Yunusa Belel, told journalists at the weekend in Yola that the committee targets youths and women between the ages of 18-35 years, adding that the programme was designed to empower youths and women to enable them become economically independent and contribute their quota to the growth of the nation.

To ensure that the programme succeeds, Belel disclosed that his committee is targeting 10,000 women and youths annually and has concluded the tour of the 21 local governments in the state to educate the public on its importance to the country and the need to support it.

Urging traditional rulers, politicians, religious leaders and non-governmental organisations to drum support for the programme, he pointed out that it will reduce poverty and the security challenges in the country, maintaining that 35 percent of those to be recruited must be women, whom he noted are the pillars of the economy and social development.

“Each of the recruited youth and women will be paid N10,000 monthly to cushion the hardship of the beneficiaries. They would also be engaged in different skills acquisition training programmes to ensure that the pressure on government jobs is reduced and private sector operation is encouraged in order to expand the economy and create more job opportunities in the country.”

He appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the SURE-P programme, pointing out that criticising a programme that is yet to fully take-off is unfair, adding that politicians should keep aside their political differences and embrace it as a pillar to address the crisis of unemployment and infrastructure in the country.

He said, “My duty as the SURE-P chairman in the state is to ensure that Mr. President’s promise that the difference of the N32 in the fuel price increase from N65–N97 is invested on programmes that have direct positive bearing on the people of Adamawa State is implemented without any problem,” he stated.