In the quest to reduce unemployment, take young people off the streets and reduce crime and criminality in the country, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), has started a programme to train to some Nigerians in tie and dye and batik making.
The directorate also performed the resettlement loan scheme ceremony of its Community Based Training Scheme (C.B.T.S) and School on Wheels programmes.
Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, Director General of the directorate, while speaking at the event in Lagos on Wednesday in Yaba, Lagos State, said that the only solution to poverty and the increasing crime rate amongst the youths is to engage them in income generating activities.
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Fikpo, who was represented at the event by the Lagos State coordinator of the directorate, Mrs. Serena Olayebi Edward, said that empowering young people and women with high demand marketable skills would reduce poverty level as well as crime rate in the country.
He stated that the Covid-19 pandemic and its attendant consequences, including the lockdown, worsened unemployment rate in the country, adding that the only way to cushion the impact on the nation’s economy is to skill up the Nigerian populace.
Fikpo said that the directorate is at the forefront of eradicating and reducing poverty by providing jobs for all age groups and social classes as they long as they fall within the unemployed category.
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He posited that NDE as an organisation is strategically positioned to train, educate and equip people so that they can be financially independent and self-reliant.
He disclosed that 22 beneficiaries under CBTS programme were resettled, and 22 beneficiaries under the S.O.W programme were also resettled.
According to him, 20 people would be trained in paint production under the Quick-Fix programme.
He congratulated the beneficiaries of the resettlement programme.
Also speaking at the event Hajia Hadiza Kolo, head, Loan Unit, NDE, Lagos, said beneficiaries of the resettlement loan scheme are expected to start paying the loan after the expiration of moratorium period of three months.
She urged them to repay their loans on time in order to access more loans from the directorate.
However, Edward stressed the importance of acquiring a skill and encouraged the beneficiaries to be to be hard working and diligent, adding that they should take the training seriously and make the best use of the opportunity afforded them by the Federal Government.
Mr. Olusegun Osinowo, general manager, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), counseled the participants and beneficiaries to take the skills they have acquired seriously and use it to improve their economic status. He counseled then about rendering positive service to their communities.
Olori Esther Oni Asafa, wife of Onijanikin of Ijanikin, Lagos State, praised the directorate for training young Nigerians and giving them skills that will make to be financially independent and help them to contribute their quota to the economic development of the country.