The office of the Vice President in partnership with WEMA Bank has concluded arrangements to commence an initiative that will impact two million youth and one million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across the country.
This is in furtherance to its pledge to support the job creation agenda of the Tinubu administration,
Vice President Kashim Shettima who received an update report on the programme on Monday during a courtesy visit by the Managing Director of WEMA Bank, Moruf Oseni, lauded the commitment and partnership of the bank for the initiative.
The delegation was at the Villa to brief the vice president on the progress made in the implementation of the FGN-ALAT Digital Skill-Novation Programme – an initiative of a partnership between the Federal Government and WEMA Bank to train two million youths and empower one million Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across Nigeria.
Speaking on the support and commitment of the bank in the execution of the initiative, the VP said “I will call on you to be above board. You are a good organisation. I want to thank you most sincerely for your initiative and commitment, be rest assured that we will fulfil our own part of the bargain.”
Speaking to State House correspondents later in an interview, Mr Oseni said they were at the Presidential Villa to brief the Vice President on “how far we have gone on the FGN/ALAT project. The Vice President was very happy, and shortly you will hear from his office of how we want to progress with this programme, part of this is to help create innovation hubs across the country for us.
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“Mr President came out with a very bold and audacious plan on how to revive the Nigerian economy. The banks are key players and we will do our best to actualize this. If Nigeria does well, the financial institutions will do well. Mr. President is 100% on track and we are totally in support of his administration.”
On his part, Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation and MSMEs, emphasised the significance of collaboration, noting that “there is power in partnership. The private sector and the public sector coming together can always do more for the people. Mr President’s ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda cannot be achieved by the government or private sector alone as it requires all hands on deck.
“So, we dug deep into the private sector to see how they can actually play their own role. In the first instance, they agreed to partner with us on skills acquisition and in other aspects of the scheme that we plan to implement.”
The FGN/ALAT Digital Skill-Novation Programme will be formally launched by the Vice President on 29 September at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja.
Also present at the meeting were Tunde Mabawonko, Executive Director, WEMA Bank; Bamidele Adefemi, Head of Federal Public Sector, and Chioma Onuaguluchi, Regional Executive, Abuja.
Olusola Abiola
Director Information
Office of the Vice President
18th September 2023
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