The Vice President disclosed this while delivering a special lecture on “The Challenges of Human Development in 21st Century Africa” at the prestigious Oxford University, United Kingdom.
He said, “As the proportion of the working age group of 15-59 years will continue to increase steadily over the next years, Nigeria has the advantage of “demographic dividend‟. Harnessing the demographic dividend through appropriate skill development efforts provides an opportunity to achieve inclusion and productivity within the country.
“Over the past two years, through the N-Power Programme, the largest post-tertiary employment programme in Africa, we have been able to offer skills development programmes digitally to over 500,000 young citizens between the ages of 18 and 35. We have set a target of skilling 10 million Nigerians by 2023.”
He also noted that a total of N55 billion has been disbursed to 250,000 farmers under the administration’s Anchor Borrowers Programme scheme, which provides subsidised credit to smallholder farmers so they can boost production with guaranteed uptake by the anchor companies
He added that the continued diversification of the Nigerian economy by this administration and its massive investment on infrastructure are some of the initiatives it has deployed towards promoting growth and human capital development in the country.
According to him, “We have also prioritized spending on infrastructure. Rail, roads, and power in particular. Despite earning 60% less than the previous administration, we have spent N2.7 trillion in two budget cycles on capital, the highest in the nation’s history,“ Osinbajo said.
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