Sen Ndume Charges Youths To Monitor N700 Billion Job Creation Fund

The Senator representing Borno South, Senator Ali Ndume has charged youths to monitor the 700 billion naira recently approved by government for job creation.

The fund is meant to allow youths, farmers, traders and other Small and Medium Enterprises have access to credit facilities for businesses.

In a chat with journalists on Thursday, the lawmaker accused relevant government agencies responsible for implementing job creation agenda, of not doing enough.

“So what I’m suggesting or what I’m urging the youth particularly, like now government had recently announced over N700 billion for intervention in various sectors that is supposed to be targeted toward indigent Nigerians and the vulnerable but we are yet to see some of these actions on ground, “he stated.

While absolving the government of any blame in the spate of unemployment in the country, the lawmaker explained that the President had done his bid in addressing the unemployment in the country.

According to him, programmes like TraderMoney and Npower were part of the government’s effort to better the of Nigerians.

He added that the “President had done his bid by allocating such amount not only for the youths but even the farmers, traders, you can hear about trader money, you hear about Npower, you hear about huge investments, the president has done his bid by allocating huge sums of money. It is now left for the beneficiaries; the youths, the farmers, traders and entrepreneurs to follow their money and make sure that the budget is not only implemented but the impact of that budget should be felt. People should ask where is the money or the youths especially should follow their money to make sure that what they claim that they have done should be seen and the impact should be felt.”

Senator Ndume also lamented the inability of relevant government agencies to implement the goals of the government in providing 13 trillion naira for job creation in the 2020 budget.

“The federal government provided 13 trillion naira in the 2020 budget for this purpose, the highest so far, but we cannot see it on ground.

“The media has a role to play. If an MDA has budgeted certain amount, using the FoI act, you people should ask where is the money, what did they do with it. It is not only the responsibility of the national assembly. But the civil society organisations, the media and the people that are directly affected, like the NPower, they should ask the question, where is it.

“Like the 774,000 jobs, you could see that they are busy everywhere in the local government, at least you know 1000 people are engaged, you could see them working. Nigerians should demand for transparency, accountability and impactful implementation of the budget,” he said.