Governor Otti Assures Collaboration With UNDP On Jubilee Fellows Program 2.0, Says Program Aligns With The Vision Of His Administration
Abia State Governor, His Excellency, Dr Alex Otti, OFR, has assured of the readiness of his administration to collaborate with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme 2.0, stressing that his government is not taking the issues of the development and empowerment of Abia youths for granted, hence, his willingness to collaborate with the federal government and UNDP to further empower the youths.
Governor Otti stated this on thursday, February 5th, in his Office, when he received a delegation of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Delivery and Coordination – Akubo Adegbe, Office of the Vice President and the UNDP team who paid him a working visit to seek the State’s formal participation in the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (NJFP) 2.0, the support and preferred areas of interest to engage Abia youths.
Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (NJFP) 2.0 is a flagship Federal Government youth employment initiative, coordinated by the Office the Vice President and implemented with UNDP, with funding from the European Union. Established in 2022, NJFP provides 12‑month paid placements for young graduates across public, private, and civil society sectors.
Governor Otti described the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (NJFP) 2.0 as a programme that aligns perfectly with his vision for the development of the youths in the State.
The number one citizens of the State said that his areas of preference for the collaboration and investment are, the digital space, creative economy, energy, and leadership, informing the delegation that his government has empowered many youths with digital skills through the TechRise programme, which has trained and graduated over 1,359 Abia Youths and the Abia leadership Academy too which has trained and graduated about 1000 Abia youths..
“We are not taking the issue of the Youths lightly. That is why I said maybe you had a peep into what we were doing. So, this aligns strategically with our own thinking.
“The Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme 2.0 sounds to me like a programme that was adopted from here, because even before you came, we already had started doing something.
“There’s a programme we call the Techrise programme, where we train our young people. The first set that we graduated were about 510.
“And then the second set, Techrise 2.0, we graduated 849. It was actually supposed to be 850, but toward the end of the programme, we lost one of the students. And it’s all about digital economy.
“And, if you ask me what is the preferred area, I would say digital economy first. And then the creative economy, energy, and then a few other areas that our people are interested in.
The Governor equally noted that he introduced Leadership Academy for young people and the programme has ran 2 streams and graduated about a thousand young people, informing the delegation that another set would soon commence for the year.
Governor Otti, who assured that he would be glad to work with the team, directed the Principal Secretary and Chief Strategy Officer of the Government, Mr Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, to work with the team. He said that he believes that after graduating from tertiary institution, the graduand should get integrated into the wider society and become useful.
“I’ve always also held the view that after the gown, you need to integrate it with the town. You know, the town and gown.
“Go and learn something in school. So, you come out, and then you can now decide where you want. There should be that integration between the town and the gown,” Gov. Otti emphasised.
Earlier, the Team Lead of the UNDP, Innocent Ejolu, said that they came to discuss how Abia can scale and sustain youth employment strategically, transparently, and at speed.
He disclosed that the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme is a flagship initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria, funded by the European Union, implemented by UNDP, with political and strategic leadership from the Office of the Vice President.
He said that the programme is a “new phase designed to deploy 20,000 fellows annually nationwide with deeper skills, smarter matching, and stronger retention.
“We’ve placed over 14,000 young Nigerians across all the 36 states and the federal capital territory.
“With Abia’s co-investment, we can scale from hundreds to nearly thousands of fellows, build a pipeline of future civil servants and entrepreneurs, and unlock private capital for human development,” Mr Ejolu stated.
Contributing, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Coordination and Delivery, Office of the Vice President, Mr Akubo Adegbe, while commending the leadership that Governor Otti has provided in the power sector and other sectors of the economy, noted that many national programmes have come and fizzled out in the past, hence, the Vice President has insisted that the programme should be domesticated to align with the visions of the State.
“The only way to make sure it does not follow the path of programmes that have come and gone is to ensure that the implementation of the programme is domesticated.
“We redesigned this 2.0 to better reflect the needs of the people, which is why we are having this conversation, to ensure that the redesigned 2.0 is sustainable,” Adegbe stated.
Mr Adegbe, who disclosed that the programme is designed to deploy 20,000 fellows at the minimum across the country every year, made three key requests, including; the Governor’s political support for the programme, his contribution to the basket fund and choice of sectors the Governor thinks would work better for the people of the State.
The Governor was joined by the Honourable Commissioners for trade and Commerce, sports and youth development and other senior appointees of the Government during the meeting.
Ctz. UKOHA, NJOKU UKOHA
Chief Press Secretary to the Executive Governor of Abia State.
