President Muhammadu Buhari has said the focus on job creation, consistency in policy and innovation stimulated a five per cent growth of the economy in the second quarter of 2021, which is the highest in six years.

He said the Jubilee Fellows Programme will further consolidate on the success recorded.

The president spoke yesterday at the launch of the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme, State House, Abuja.

In a statement issued by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, the president listed some of the key drivers of economic growth and diversification in the second quarter to include telecommunications, transportation, electricity, agriculture and manufacturing.

He said, “Tuesday, 22nd June 2021, I set up the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS) steering committee to coordinate our work to fulfil my promise to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years. This is building on the positive results from the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan and the targeted response to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic with the Economic Sustainability Plan.

“These efforts have yielded results with Nigeria recording its biggest economic growth in six years with a GDP growth of five per cent in the second quarter of 2021. The sectors that drove this growth are trade, telecommunications, transportation, electricity, agriculture and manufacturing. Each of these sectors showed significant improvement and thus created more jobs for our populace.

“An important part of our policies and strategies is the focus on employment and creating opportunities for our people. When this government was elected in 2015, we committed to increasing job opportunities for Nigerians and as part of our social investments programme we recruited 500,000 graduates into our N-power programme,’’ he said.

In 2019, the president said he directed that the number of graduates be increased to 1 million.

“These graduates are recruited to work in agricultural, health and education institutions across the country. The N-power programme also has a non-graduate component that provides skills to tens of thousands of Nigerians in areas such as technology, masonry, auto repairs, and carpentry.

“We estimate that about two million people join our labour force annually. We continue to work with our partners to provide more opportunities to create jobs and the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme being one of such opportunities,’’ he added.

The President said, “The jubilee programme will provide a pathway for young Nigerians to gain work experience in top tier organisations, gaining relevant skills and building the right networks for the future in various sectors including information and communications technology, financial services, trade, manufacturing, agriculture and agro-processing.

“Other sectors include mining, telecommunications, creative industries and technology, education, health, research and development, and public sector institutions. We believe that building the right skills and experiences across these sectors are important to sustain the economic growth we are experiencing,’’ he said.