By Chesa Chesa
The Federal Government, through the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), on Tuesday said it had trained 33,692 unemployed youths in vocational skills and out of the number, 5,532 have been settled with loans and starter packs.
Director-General of the National Directorate of NDE, Silas Agara disclosed this in Abuja, at the resettlement of beneficiaries under the Renewed Hope elEmployment Initiative of the directorate.
The DG explained that over three months, the directorate trained 33,692 youths, women and persons living with disabilities in-demand skills across vocational skills training, entrepreneurship and business management training, agricultural skills training and activities within the public works sector in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.
Agara said the initiative had culminated in the launching of resettlement of the trained beneficiaries, stressing that its goal was to empower participants to become not only self-employed but employers of labour.
It was designed to create employment opportunities, support the establishment of small-scale enterprises, promote agricultural productivity, improve rural infrastructure and provide transient jobs, which would in-turn foster economic growth and empower our communities, he stated.
“A total number of 5,532 beneficiaries will be resettled with loans and starter packs nationwide to enable the establishment of their own businesses,” Agara said.
In her keynote address, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, said the resettlement exercise for the NDE beneficiaries, remained a key programme of the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
“From the very inception of this administration, the President has prioritized job creation, skills acquisition, and economic empowerment as core strategies for national development. This is evident in various policies and programmes of this administration, targeted at improving the lives of Nigerians, particularly the youth and vulnerable groups.
“The employment creation programme we are celebrating today was meticulously designed to equip thousands of unemployed Nigerians with practical skills in various trades and vocations.
“This initiative was deliberately implemented in all the states of the federation and the FCT, and the beneficiaries selected across all the electoral wards of this country to ensure inclusivity, fairness, and national reach”, she explained.
