Revisiting The Scrapping Of SURE-P -By Kolawole

I want to thank God for the effectiveness of the Nigerian media in propelling our democracy to where it is today. In recent times it is the Nigerian media that has proved to be the last hope of the common man, apologies to the collapsed justice system. The Buhari Osinbajo administration had proved in these past months to be a listening government as they have consistently hearkened to the hues and cries of the Nigerian people through the help of the indomitable media organizations in Nigeria. This is why most of us have resorted to go through the media in reminding our federal government that they should not make mistakes while the economic surgical operations is going on.

Nigeria is presently sleeping as a result of this economic surgical operation being carried out by President Muhammadu Buhari, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. However as they have injected Nigerians with the anaesthetic drugs, the world and Africa in particular is patiently waiting for Nigerians to successfully pass through this economic operations.

As for some of us who have indeed secured permanent jobs through the Graduate Internship Scheme GIS we were indeed shocked by the recent scrapping of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme SURE-P. The announcement shocked me in particular because I am a living testimony of how the programme had tremendously impacted my life as a beneficiary. However we find solace in the subsequent announcement signed by the media unit of the scheme stating that the scheme has the capacity to continue until December, 2015.

After several years of graduation without a job and with several applications submitted to different companies in search of a white collar job with no hope in sight, I stumbled on a newspaper report on the SURE-P Graduate Internship Scheme, followed it up by giving it a try by registering as an intern. Barely few days after my registration I was given a call by officers of the scheme that I should check my email and that was it. When I checked, I saw “Congratulations you have been selected to be an intern with beneficiary number GI-OND-ILA-00062.” This was the beginning of my having to move from nothingness to where I am today. All I say today is just one out of the many testimonies that can be verified as positive legacies of the scheme.

In the cause of my one year internship I was invited for an orientation and employability training, I was made to learn the following; how to be a better job seeker, branding, how to save and be accountable, how GIS works amongst others. My employer who happens to be a traditional ruler and the chief executive of Moth Petroleum, gave us an enabling environment at our place of work.

As a graduate I started with being a pump attendant, and I tried as much as possible to be friendly with all of our customers. My friendship with these customers made me to make so much sales and it made the filling station to become so much so popular in the Okitikpupa community of Igbokoda, Ondo State. Barely six months into my internship programme I endeared myself to the management and I was elevated as supervisor of all the pump attendants. In the eight month of my internship I was assigned to commence company representation at the NNPC depot for the purchase of PMS and other products on the behalf of the company.

This privileged role of representing the company where I served as an intern was the climax of my experience as a graduate who started as an ordinary pump attendant, who grew through the ranks and enjoyed a steady N30,000 monthly stipend from the Graduate Internship Scheme and another N30,000 from our boss Kabiyesi Ogbaro, the chief executive of Moth Petroleum Nigeria Ltd. Today I am the sales and production manager of the same company. This could not have been possible if not for the Graduate Internship Scheme.

Consequently as one of those who believe in the effectiveness of change and I voted change against all odds, I do not expect that the same change we all yearned for would work against us. I sincerely believe that the change would usher in a modification of well-established programmes and projects of the federal government as government ought to be a continuum.

Just as Nigerians are undergoing the economic surgical operations, our medical personnel must understand that time is of essence in all they do. They should equally take note not to cut off functional organs of the Nigerian body as this would not augur well for the nation. I call on well-meaning Nigerians to equally speak with these ‘surgeons’ nay leaders whom Nigerians have reposed so much confidence on for them not to fail us as any attempt to allow these beneficiaries of the graduate internship scheme to go back into the labour market would result to catastrophic consequences.

– Kolawole wrote in from Okitikpupa, Ondo State