From Shuaibu Zubair Tatu, Birnin Kebbi
Federal Government has said that it has secured opportunities for 23,516 unemployed graduates out of 24,000 targeted under the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme(NJFP) as at June.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Delivery and Coordination, Office of the Vice- President, Mr Akubo Adegbe disclosed this on Thursday in Birnin Kebbi during the NJFP 2.0 engagement with employers and fellows.
The theme of the programme is: “Employer and Fellow”, aimed to provide a workforce for the nation.
While speaking at the peogramme, Adegbe said: “We have achieved 97.3 per cent of the 24,000 graduates the programme targeted when it was launched by the Vice -President,Kashim Shettima on October ,2025.
“When this programme was launched, NJFP 2.0 last year October by His Excellency,Vice-President Kasim Shettima, we gave ourselves and interesting ambition and that ambition is to get 24,000 graduates into the portal, at the end of June this year.
“By the end of the deadline, that was two days ago, we have been able to get 23,516 graduates across the country. And this is about 97.3 per cent of our target. We are almost getting to the target,” he said.
Adegbe disclosed that Nigeria ,the giant of Africa,was endowed with abundant talented youths who are willing to utilise their skills, but the opportunities were not available.
“In Nigeria, we don’t have shortage of talent. What we have is opportunities deficit. So, we have talented youths everywhere, but they have not been given the opportunity to do what they are capable of doing.
“Therefore,this programme is to connect our youths to opportunities. Young talented youths are to be connected to unlimited opportunities,” he stated.
He disclosed that, at the national level, Federal Government “is planning to ensure that Nigeria’s economy reaches trillion US dollars, which already recorded about 500 million dollars.”
The Special Adviser said that to achieve the target, the federal government need human capital resources to drives the economy to the level.
Adegbe, who commended the Kebbi Government for its initiaves on agriculture, said that, federal government designed the programme to be implemented at the state level so that each state would have an input in accordance with their challenges and comparative advantages.
“This programme is designed to provide human workforce that we needed today, and workforce we needed for tomorrow. It is about the workforce that will sustain Nigeria’s development,” he said.
He commended the development partner, UNDP for the partnership to ensure that the youths of Nigeria become employers of labour.
In his remark, Kebbi State, Dr. Nasir Idris of Kebbi, who was represented by the Commissioner for Sports and Youths Development, Nurudeen Bala-Fingilla, described the programme as a big statement that proved that only classrooms cannot provide employment for the graduates.
He urged the beneficiaries of the programme to make themselves relevant and not bench warmers in any organisation they might found themselves.
FG secured opportunities for 23,516 unemployed graduates
