The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday said at least 15,000 jobs had been created in the first phase of the YouWin entrepreneurial initiative even as she charged the beneficiaries to work harder in order to meet the 80,000 jobs target within the first year of the programme's implementation.
The minister, who disclosed this during the visit of some of the beneficiaries of the programme to her office in Abuja during which a variety of their manufactured products were also displayed, said with the entrepreneurial capacities exhibited so far by the 1,200 winners, the introduction of the programme by the present administration was not misplaced after all.
An elated Okonjo-Iweala, who commended the young entrepreneurs for their creative ingenuity and managerial capacities, expressed the hope that if all stakeholders give the needed support to them, then they would become the bedrock of a new Nigeria, where people will know that fairness, merit and equality will remain crucial to creating a glorious future for the country.
The minister said: "So far, the first survey shows that you have created from the first batch of 1200, 15,000 jobs and you know our target for this programme is 80,000 to 110,000 jobs. So, this is your first survey, by the second survey, we want you to double that, and then there's a new group coming in and very soon we are going to get all of you together, if you create 40,000 jobs out of this, if they too can create 40,000, what do we have? That is 80,000 jobs."
