Nigeria Recruits 200,000 University Graduates

It is part of a two-year paid volunteering programme that engages young people to serve in their communities.

The Nigerian government on November 20, 2016, announced that 200,000 university graduates have been retained for temporary employment and deployment to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja and State civil services. Thisday newspaper reported that the young workers who are to begin work on December 1, 2016, are the first batch of the 500,000 university graduates to be employed by government on volunteer basis as promised by President Muhammadu Buhari during his electioneering campaign in 2014.

The N-Power Corps is a paid two-year volunteering programme that engages graduates in their immediate communities. The 500,000 graduates will be trained in skills to enable them leave after two years for economically-viable job and business opportunities. Participants are to earn 30,000 Naira (about 58,000 FCFA) a month. A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said names of successful candidates were to be published yesterday, November 21, 2016.

Some 150,000 of the graduates will teach, 30,000 will offer agricultural extension services, while 20,000 will assist in public health and com...