NEWS
Gov. Alex Otti Declares Strong Readiness for Strategic Partnership with UNDP and Federal Govt on Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme 2.0, Unveils Digital Economy, Creative Industry, Energy and Leadership as Priority Sectors for Massive Youth Empowerment
The Executive Governor of Abia State, His Excellency, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, has reaffirmed the unwavering commitment of his administration to the development, empowerment, and future readiness of Abia youths, as he assured of the State’s readiness to collaborate with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Federal Government on the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (NJFP) 2.0.
Governor Otti gave the assurance on Thursday, February 5th, 2026, during a courtesy and working visit by a high-powered delegation comprising the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Delivery and Coordination, Office of the Vice President, Mr. Akubo Adegbe, and officials of the UNDP, led by the Team Lead, Mr. Innocent Ejolu. The delegation visited the Governor to seek Abia State’s formal participation in NJFP 2.0, as well as the State’s support and preferred areas of youth engagement.
The Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (NJFP) 2.0 is a flagship youth employment initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria, coordinated by the Office of the Vice President and implemented by UNDP with funding support from the European Union. Established in 2022, the programme provides 12-month paid placements for young graduates across public, private, and civil society sectors, with the goal of addressing graduate unemployment while strengthening workforce capacity nationwide.
Describing the programme as timely and visionary, Governor Otti noted that NJFP 2.0 aligns seamlessly with his administration’s strategic vision for youth development and economic inclusion in Abia State.
The Governor identified digital economy, creative economy, energy, and leadership development as the top priority areas for collaboration and investment, stressing that Abia has already made significant strides in youth capacity building through state-driven initiatives.
He disclosed that his administration, through the TechRise programme, has empowered over 1,359 Abia youths with in-demand digital skills, while the Abia Leadership Academy has trained and graduated about 1,000 young people, preparing them for leadership, governance, and enterprise.
Reaffirming his administration’s seriousness about youth empowerment, Governor Otti said:
“We are not taking the issue of the Youths lightly. That is why I said maybe you had a peep into what we were doing.
“So, this aligns strategically with our own thinking.
“The Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme 2.0 sounds to me like a programme that was adopted from here, because even before you came, we already had started doing something.
“There’s a programme we call the Techrise programme, where we train our young people. The first set that we graduated were about 510.
“And then the second set, Techrise 2.0, we graduated 849. It was actually supposed to be 850, but toward the end of the programme, we lost one of the students. And it’s all about digital economy.
“And, if you ask me what is the preferred area, I would say digital economy first. And then the creative economy, energy, and then a few other areas that our people are interested in.”
Governor Otti further explained that the Leadership Academy has so far run two streams and graduated close to 1,000 young people, adding that another stream would soon commence within the year.
He also directed the Principal Secretary and Chief Strategy, Mr. Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, to immediately liaise with the visiting team to work out implementation details, expressing confidence that the partnership would produce measurable outcomes.
Emphasising the importance of bridging the gap between academic learning and real-world application, the Governor stated:
“I’ve always also held the view that after the gown, you need to integrate it with the town. You know, the town and gown.
“Go and learn something in school. So, you come out, and then you can now decide where you want. There should be that integration between the town and the gown.”
Earlier in his remarks, UNDP Team Lead, Mr. Innocent Ejolu, said the visit was aimed at discussing how Abia State could scale and sustain youth employment in a strategic, transparent, and rapid manner.
He explained that NJFP is a Federal Government flagship programme funded by the European Union, implemented by UNDP, and driven by political and strategic leadership from the Office of the Vice President.
According to him, the programme has entered a new phase that expands both scale and impact.
He said the programme is a “new phase designed to deploy 20,000 fellows annually nationwide with deeper skills, smarter matching, and stronger retention.
“We’ve placed over 14,000 young Nigerians across all the 36 states and the federal capital territory.
“With Abia’s co-investment, we can scale from hundreds to nearly thousands of fellows, build a pipeline of future civil servants and entrepreneurs, and unlock private capital for human development,” Mr. Ejolu stated.
On his part, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Delivery and Coordination, Mr. Akubo Adegbe, commended Governor Otti’s leadership, particularly in the power sector and other critical areas of the economy.
He noted that many laudable national programmes in the past failed due to weak alignment with state-level priorities, stressing that NJFP 2.0 has been deliberately redesigned to avoid such pitfalls.
“The only way to make sure it does not follow the path of programmes that have come and gone is to ensure that the implementation of the programme is domesticated.
“We redesigned this 2.0 to better reflect the needs of the people, which is why we are having this conversation, to ensure that the redesigned 2.0 is sustainable,” Adegbe stated.
He further disclosed that the programme targets the deployment of a minimum of 20,000 fellows nationwide every year and outlined three key requests from the Abia State Government: the Governor’s political support, the State’s contribution to the basket fund, and the identification of sectors that best align with Abia’s development priorities.
The Governor was joined at the meeting by the Commissioner for Trade and Commerce, Dr. Salome Nkemakolam Obiukwu; Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Sir Nwaobilor Nwadimma Ananaba; Senior Special Assistant on Budget and Planning, Dr. Eric Egwuibe; and other top government officials.
The engagement signals a major step toward deepening youth-focused partnerships and accelerating job creation in Abia State, reinforcing Governor Otti’s vision of building a 
skilled, productive, and future-ready generation of Abians.