Federal Govt Launches GenU Secretariat To Link 20m Youths To Jobs, Skills

The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, has formally launched the Office of the Vice President-Generation Unlimited (OVP-GenU) Secretariat to coordinate the implementation of the programme’s activities nationwide.

The GenU Nigeria initiative is a UNICEF-led Public-Private-Youth Partnership (PPYP) programme designed to connect 20 million Nigerian youths to education, skills, and livelihood opportunities by 2030.

Speaking during the launch of the secretariat on Tuesday in Abuja, the Vice President, represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Sen. Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, said the office would accelerate programme execution and deepen partnerships across various government agencies.

In a statement by the vice president’s spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, he explained that one of the benefits of establishing the secretariat would be proper alignment of skills with the demands of the community, industry, and society through a transparent process accessible to all.

Earlier in his remarks, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, commended stakeholders for launching the initiative in Nigeria, noting that its framework aligns with the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme (RHWDP).

While pledging his ministry’s support for the GenU programme, Sen. Bagudu noted that the initiative will help accelerate the implementation of the Federal Government’s programme aimed at stimulating local economies, targeting 8,809 electoral wards across the country.

For her part, the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Sa’idu Ahmad, applauded the commitment of development partners and other stakeholders to the introduction of the initiative in Nigeria, noting that the Vice President’s vision has provided strategic direction for the assignment of the secretariat.

She said the Federal Ministry of Education will endorse the GenU programme as a technical guide, particularly the skills census, noting that its output will be integrated into the ministry’s planning for vocational and skills training.

In her remarks, the UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Wafaa Saeed Abdelatef, thanked the Federal Government for endorsing the programme, stating that hosting the secretariat in the Office of the Vice President was a demonstration of the Nigerian government’s commitment to the well-being of youths.

She said UNICEF was excited, proud and encouraged at what Nigeria was doing, demonstrating leadership on the continent, particularly in maximising the impact of all the accelerators for job creation.

The representative pledged UNICEF’s support and commitment to the GenU national secretariat, particularly “in bringing in technical expertise in specific programmes”.

In separate remarks, the Special Adviser to the President on Job Creation and MSME, Mr Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, and the coordinator of the Secretariat, Rimamskeb Nuhu, outlined the potential of the programme to reverse the trend of unemployment among Nigeria’s youth population, leveraging existing platforms and programmes being implemented by the Federal Government.

Mr Adekunle-Johnson, however, assured stakeholders of his support using the network of the Shared Hubs initiative of the National MSME Clinics to deepen skills acquisition across different sectors.

For his part, Mr Nuhu sought the support of critical stakeholders to succeed in the project, saying, “We require two critical commitments from the ministries represented here today. First, we ask for your full support in the upcoming National Skills Census. This census will populate the NSO, establishing it as the ‘Single Source of Truth’ for skills intelligence under the National Council on Skills.

“Second, we seek formal representation from your respective ministries within the Secretariat itself. By embedding ministerial focal points within the delivery unit, we will ensure better inter-agency coordination, prevent the duplication of efforts, and guarantee the long-term sustainability of this sovereign system.”