SURE-P jobs: Minister did not lie – FCTA

The Federal Capital Territory Administration and the FCT Project Implementation Unit of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme have denied that the programme has not resulted in the proposed employment of Nigerians as reported in the media a few days ago.
Rather, the two bodies said the SURE-P in the FCT has led to the employment of over 4,000 Nigerians in the past few months.
A statement by the FCTA on Friday stated that there was no lie in the statement credited to the Minister of State for the FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, that the programme would employ thousands of Nigerians before the end of 2012.
The statement reads in part: “The FCTA wishes to strongly refute the fabricated reports and unequivocally restate that the engagement of 10,000 unemployed women and youths under the Community Service, Women and Youth Programme of the SURE-P as announced by the Honourable Minister of State for FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, is on track.
“The Honourable Minister of State did not lie and had no reason to lie about the engagement of the 10,000 women and youths.
“The FCT Administration is guaranteeing transparency and equity in the processes of recruitment under the FCT SURE-P programme.
“Contrary to the two media reports that no recruitment had occurred under the FCT SURE-P programme, the Administration wishes to put the record straight that the first batch of 1,000 unemployed women and youths were engaged by the FCT Administration three months ago.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the FCT Administration following thorough scrutinization recruited 300 people for the Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS) while another 300 unemployed women and youths were also engaged for the Abuja Environmental Protection Board.
“The Administration during the period had also employed 200 people each for the Development Control and Parks and Recreation Departments of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC).
“Under the second batch of the FCT SURE-P programme in November 2012, the FCTA engaged and trained 500 unemployed women and youths each for the six Area Councils, bringing the total number of employment under the programme to 4,000.
“The above facts can be verified at the above mentioned departments and agencies of the FCTA as well as the Area Councils.
“The FCTA wants to place on record that the third batch of 3,000 women and youths (500 people from each of the six Area Councils) is currently being scrutinized by the FCT Administration in conjunction with the Area Councils towards ensuring transparency.
“The FCT Administration wishes to advise media practitioners to always authenticate their reports, as the Administration is still up-scaling the engagement of unemployed women and youths under the Community Service, Women and Youth Programme of the SURE-P.
“The FCTA would continue to ensure that all wards in the six Area Councils are well represented under the SURE-P programme for purposes of equity and fairness and would not be hounded by politically motivated reports in following the due process in the recruitment exercise.”