President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday urged Nigerian graduates to apply for the Jubilee Fellows Programme.

The programme, a Federal Government initiative in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), aims to place 20,000 skilled young Nigerian graduates (under the age of 30) into jobs in private and public sector organizations around the country.

The jobs will last for 12 months, will be fully-paid, and will seek to help prepare recent graduates for their future careers and work environments.“We believe that as this programme creates new opportunities for 20,000 recent graduates annually, the beneficiaries will use the opportunities presented to them and maximize their 12 months of engagement,’’ the President said at the State House in Abuja while launching the programme.

The President said his administration has focused on job creation as a way to stimulate the economy.

“An important part of our policies and strategies is the focus on employment and creating opportunities for our people,” he said.

“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.”

According to the President, 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.’’