No fewer than 5, 000 youths have been listed to benefit from a World Bank assisted programme, Public Work Fare (PWF), a component of the Youth Employment and Social Support Operations (YESSO) in Kwara state.
Head of the State Public Workfare Unit, Mr. S.O. Aregbe disclosed this in a statement in Ilorin.
Aregbe, in a statement signed by Dr Muyideen Akorede, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media to Gov. AbdulFatah Ahmed, said that the governor had approved the engagement of the youth.
Aregbe said that the PWF Component of the YESSO programme was targeted at providing the immediate labour intensive work opportunities for unskilled youths from poor households.
He also said that the programme would improve the living standard of the beneficiaries as they would be paid monthly stipend.
Aregbe said that the youth were between the ages of 18 and 35 years.
He added that the beneficiaries would from Thursday, Feb. 1 be deployed to their immediate communities.
This, he said, was to enable them to work on part-time basis.
According to him, the first batch of 1, 210 beneficiaries were selected from the single register of poor and vulnerable households in 153 communities across Asa, Ilorin West, Kaiama, Moro, Ifelodun and Isin Local Government.
He said that the beneficiaries would receive a monthly stipend of N7, 500 and would be paid directly into their individual bank accounts opened for them during the orientation programme.
Aregbe added that both the state and local governments would be responsible for the procurement of tools for the beneficiaries.
He further explained that based on the design of the programme, payment of stipend to beneficiaries would be co-funded by the state government and the World Bank,
Aregbe said that the state government would advance the initial 100 percent payment, while the World Bank would make a quarterly reimbursement of 90 percent to the government.
Another batch of 4,704 beneficiaries had been selected for the second and third round from the register of poor and vulnerable households slated to commence in the second quarter.
