NDE commences training of 50 unemployed graduates in Akwa Ibom

Ini Billie, Uyo

The National Directorate of Employment has flagged off training for 50 unemployed graduates in Akwa Ibom State in the 2021 Start Your Own Business (SYOB) programme.

Speaking during the programme on Tuesday in Uyo, the Director General, National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Malam Abubakar Fikpo said the programme is designed to equip graduates of tertiary institutions, who are willing to be self- employed with techniques of business start-up, to become young entrepreneurs.

Fikpo stated that the programme was in line with the policies of the present administration to revamp the nation’s economy, adding that the SYOB training has been structured to meet the present-day realities as resource persons have been carefully selected to ensure efficient delivery.

“This training platform was basically designed to equip graduates of tertiary institutions who are willing to be self-employed with techniques of business start-up to become young entrepreneurs, who must not be previous beneficiaries of any of the NDE programmes.

“This is to ensure a wider spread of opportunities for other unemployed graduates to benefit from the Directorate’s programmes.

“The intervention of government by introducing these programmes is to ensure improvement in the well-being of unemployed graduates. I therefore urge you to reciprocate government gesture by engaging resources at your disposal for sustainable productivity.

“The NDE is working in tandem with the policies of the present administration toward revamping the economy through vocational, agricultural and entrepreneurial skills amongst others, which has a large labour absorption capacity, while reducing unemployment and poverty to the barest minimum in the country.

“It is expedient to recall that NDE has not reneged in its mandate to provide jobs for all, even in the face of adverse economic conditions occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic in recent times,” he stated.

The DG listed the job creation programme of the directorate to include Vocational Skills Development (VSD), Special Public Works (SPW), Small Scale Enterprise (SSE) and Rural Employment Promotion (REP).

He mentioned that the NDE has used the programmes to provide massive employment and open to every qualified unemployed person.

He appealed to corporate organisations and public-spirited individuals to give credence to efforts of government by rendering assistance in whatever measures possible to alleviate the burden of unemployment on the state and the country at large.