By Musa Adamu
Abuja
Federal government in collaboration with the World Bank and the European Union (EU) will create 25,000 jobs in four Niger Delta states in the next 5 years through the States’ Employment and Expenditure For Results (SEEFOR) Project.
The Four states are Bayelsa, Edo, Delta and Rivers and are selected under the SEEFOR project aimed at tackling issues of governance and unemployment
It is a project conceived by the National Planning Commission (NPC) in collaboration with the World Bank and the European Union (EU), as part of the international donor agencies’ contribution to the Amnesty Programme of the federal government.
Supervising Minister, National Planning, Amb. Bashir Yuguda, who formally launched the project, said the objective of the project was to ensure improvement in standard of living of citizens and also enhance financial management process in the Niger Delta region.
He said it was also expected to pave way for a significant reduction in unemployment rates in the SEEFOR participating states and sustained improvement in financial prudence.
He explained that the project main components include youth employment and access to socio-economic services; public financial management (PFM) reforms; and project coordination and implementation support at the federal and sub-national levels.
The project became effective in July 2013 and several activities and programmes had been implemented in the last nine months both at the national and sub national levels in addressing the twin issues of governance and employment.
The project is being executed for a period of five years and that it would be financed by credit of $200 million by the World Bank and additional financial support of about €80 million from European Union (EU).
“SEEFOR project, is intended, to address the issues of employment and public financial management and the launch was to create awareness and visibility for the project at the national and sub national levels,” he said.
The formal launch, was also to mark the end of the Project Preparatory Advance (PPA) phase, and the formal beginning of the process leading to the implementation of the SEEFOR project.