News: SURE-P To Employ 5,000 Youths, Women Per State

SURE-P- Despite the criticism that has followed the project, each state of the federation is to engage 5,000 youths and women under community services, women and youth empowerment programme component of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) in this year.

This is to increase the number of beneficiaries in that component from 3000 per state to 5000. The Edo State Chairman, and Chairman of Chairmen of SURE-P, Lucky Imasuen disclosed this recently, shortly after the meeting of 36 chairmen of SURE-P in Benin.

Imasuen said that the meeting was called to assess the progress made and to proffer solutions for challenges adding that the beneficiaries of the programme were trained to make them be on their own at the end of the programme, which he said was expected to end after one year.

He added that the training was to provide a safe landing for the beneficiaries a trade they could fall back on after the expiration of their being beneficiaries of SURE-P.

He said that beneficiaries received #10,000 per month perform such task a traffic control, cleaning of roads, hospitals among others, adding that the federal government spent about 1 billion monthly to pay salaries of beneficiaries.

The former Edo State Deputy Governor, while thanking President Goodluck Jonathan and Minister of Labour and Productivity for the programme, which he said had helped in creating jobs for youths and women, called on states and local governments to spend their own share of SURE-P fund to impact on the lives of the people.

"This is part of the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan and supported by Vice President Namadi Sambo. This money is from the excess crude oil from the removal of oil subsidy. People thought it will not work but it is the most talked about now and people are benefiting but mind you, this is the federal government share of the subsidy funds, the state governments and local government councils get theirs too independent of the federal government's share."

Source: Guardian