Shettima Launches 2.5m Jobs Scheme, Urges Nigerians To Embrace Opportunities At Home

Vice President Kashim Shettima has launched the Labour Employment and Empowerment Programme (LEEP), an initiative aimed at creating 2.5 million jobs across various sectors.

Anchored on six pillars of employment opportunities, LEEP which was developed by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment is designed to tackle youth unemployment and position Nigeria as a competitive force in the global digital economy.

The Vice President at the launch in Abuja on Tuesday, described the initiative as a season of opportunity for Nigerians.

He emphasised the urgent need to prepare Nigerians for the future of work as shaped by rapid technological transformation, digital ecosystems and shifting global job dynamics.

The LEEP initiative, a flagship programme of the President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, is designed to equip Nigerians with critical digital, vocational and entrepreneurial skills.

It targets all sectors of the economy, including the growing gig and remote work economies, leveraging technology to connect employers with a ready, skilled workforce.

Shettima therefore discouraged the trend of mass emigration, known popularly as “Japa” and urged Nigerians to believe in the nation’s potential and invest their skills at home.

“Traditional employment structures are giving way to digital ecosystems, but in this uncertainty lies a sea of opportunity, if only we are bold enough to seize it.

“All we need is to equip our youth. They don’t need to Japa from this country, we are a nation of over 230 million people, with a median age of 16.9, by 2050, we’ll be 440 million strong, the 10th most populous nation in the world”, the Vice President noted.

Highlighting Nigeria’s advantages from English language fluency to proximity to global market, Shettima also stressed the country’s potential to become a global outsourcing hub, referring to India’s $125 billion annual outsourcing revenue as a benchmark Nigeria can surpass.

In his goodwill remarks, Minister of Labour and Employment, Maigari Dingyadi, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to fighting unemployment through strategic and sustainable interventions.

“Through this programme, our target is to create millions of jobs annually, LEEP is structured to identify marketable skills and build youth capacity, matching talent with demand and encouraging self-reliance”, Dingyadi said.

The LEEP initiative will operate through six strategic pillars of digital nomads and LEEP digital academy offering courses in software development, AI, digital marketing and data analysis to prepare a tech-savvy workforce.

It will also centre on Vocational and Entrepreneurship Programmes (VEP), job fairs and National Electronic Labour Exchange (NELEX) and learning centres, including remote work initiative and labour compliance digitisation.

Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, will lead the programme’s rollout to ensure its nationwide accessibility.

“With LEEP, we are setting a clear national target, to directly and indirectly create at least 2.5 million sustainable jobs within two years, while laying the foundation for long term growth and productivity”, Onyejeocha said.