WORLD BANK BUDGETS $300M FOR YOUTHEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA

Abuja – The World Bank has budgeted
300 million dollars for Youth
Employment and Social Support Operation
(YESSO) scheme in Nigeria, Marie-
Francoise Mariel-Nelly, Country Director
of the World Bank in Nigeria said. Mariel-Nelly made the statement in Abuja
on Tuesday at the 53rd Annual conference
of the Nigerian Economic Society (NES).
“We are preparing a Youth Employment
and Social Support operation (YESSO)
aiming at supporting the provision of immediate work opportunities and skills
development for unemployed youths and
women from poor households,” she said.
Mariel-Nelly said increasing youth
employment was one of the bank’s global
priorities as it had observed that one in five of all new job seekers in Africa
were Nigerians.
“The 300 million dollars project will
cover all parts of the country in up to 20
states,” she said.
Mariel-Nelly also said that the World Bank with support from the EU would
launch the State Employment and
Expenditure for results project
(SEEFOR) in the Niger Delta region.
She said the aim was to take youths off
the streets as well as improve the country’s infrastructure.
She said that through ACCESS Nigeria,
the bank had demonstrated commitment to
opening employment opportunities for
graduates of Information Communication
Technology through target training in core competencies benchmarked to global
industry standards.
“The bank provides matching grant as seed
money to empower young farmers to adopt
new technologies and acquire capital assets,
which they use to undertake a wide range of value addition and small-scale income
generating activities,” she said.
She said youth unemployment was a threat
to social and political stability as was
evident in the youth restiveness in the
Niger Delta. Mariel-Nelly said the bank would
continue to support government efforts to
address the challenge of unemployment in
the country (NAN)