The Nigerian government has once again announced a massive plan to tackle unemployment, this time betting $220 million on jobs through the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (NJFP) 2.0. The initiative, launched by Vice President Kashim Shettima in Abuja, is said to focus on giving young graduates work experience, mentorship, and training in partnership with the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
A Familiar Promise Before Every Election
According to the Vice President, NJFP 2.0 will bridge the gap between learning and earning, giving opportunities to graduates who have the education but lack real-world experience. The plan, he said, would be embedded into national planning and budgeting frameworks to ensure sustainability. Beautiful words, but Nigerians have heard them before. In 2015, 2019, and even 2023, governments at all levels made the same promises to reduce unemployment. Yet, the streets are still filled with graduates roaming around without jobs, and most government offices are still practising secret employment, positions filled quietly through connections and nepotism.
So when the Vice President said, “Our goal is to raise $220 million, not as charity, but as an investment in the nation’s most valuable asset our young people,” many young Nigerians rolled their eyes.
The Youths Who No Longer Believe
Nigerian youths have grown too familiar with these job creation slogans that never leave the pages of press statements. From N-Power to YouWin, from TraderMoni to endless empowerment schemes, every administration has thrown billions into job initiatives that vanish in paperwork and corruption. The NJFP’s first phase launched years ago with big headlines, but how many participants actually got long-term employment?
A job programme that should empower thousands ended up empowering a few lucky ones, mostly those with political links or family ties. So when the government returns now with the same faces and the same speeches, it feels like campaign rehearsal ahead of 2027.
Public-Private Partnership or Public Deception?
The Vice President urged private companies and international partners to join the NJFP Basket Fund, a financing mechanism meant to sustain the programme. While that sounds impressive, the real problem has never been lack of foreign support; it’s the lack of accountability at home.
Foreign agencies have poured millions into Nigerian job schemes before, only for the funds to disappear into bureaucracy. Until the government starts publishing transparent records of beneficiaries, recruitment processes, and outcomes, every new job programme will remain another political performance.
Nigeria’s unemployment crisis is not just about lack of funds, it’s about lack of honesty. When jobs are secretly given to insiders while qualified youths are ignored, no $220 million can change anything. What the system needs is fairness, not more empty announcements.
Nigerians Deserve More Than Press Statements
Nigerians are tired, they don’t want another speech about investment in youths, they want real, traceable jobs. They want to know where the money goes and how it’s spent. They want to see real industries. If the government truly wants to prove that this $220 million investment is different, it must start by cleaning up its own recruitment systems and showing transparency in how these opportunities are shared.
Otherwise, this whole move will just be another headline with no substance.
