Akpan Umoh, Uyo
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has empowered no fewer than 26 unemployed youths in Akwa Ibom State trained under the Environmental Beautification Training Scheme (EBTS) with vocational equipment.
Our correspondent reports that the environmental beautification training was divided into three broad categories which include; POP installation, soft landscaping, and hard landscaping.
The equipment distributed includes; water pump machines, giant trimming scissors, rubber hand gloves, hand diggers, wooden moulds, angle irons, pop smoothing machines, set of planting tools.
Others are; water hoses, combing trowels, scrappers, hand rakes, measuring tapes, wheelbarrows, and rubber-padded hammers, among several other valuable equipment.
Speaking during the empowerment ceremony at the Federal Secretariat in Uyo on Friday, the Director General of NDE, Mallam Abubakar Fikpo commended the beneficiaries for maintaining a good level of discipline throughout the training period.
Fikpo represented by the State Coordinator of NDE, Mr Obegolu Obiora noted that empowerment was one of the options that the federal government was exploring to drastically reduce the unemployment rate in the country.
He said, “Out of about 30 unemployed persons that were trained, today we are resettling 26 of them with equipment to start their businesses.
“The importance of this programme cannot be overemphasized. Through this programme, skills are learnt, wealth is created and jobs are also created.
“I want to use this opportunity to appeal to well-meaning individuals, government, and private organisations in the state (Akwa Ibom) to partner or collaborate with the NDE in this onerous task of training and empowering our dear brothers and sisters,” Fikpo added.
The DG, however, warned the beneficiaries against any tendency to sell off the equipment given to them instead they should make judicious use of them for wealth creation.
On her part, the Director, Special Public Works of NDE, Mrs Roseline Olaomi, told the beneficiaries that the free training imparted to them by NDE were high-selling skills that would have cost them some fortune to pay to be trained.
Olaomi represented by a staff of NDE, Mrs Olorunpomi Bimbola also reminded the beneficiaries that the equipment given to them was in the form of a loan which they have to pay back when due.
Responding, one of the beneficiaries, Mr Kenneth Samson thanked the federal government and the NDE for remembering the youths at the right time in the country.
He promised to make effective use of the equipment received from NDE as a loan to help him pay the agency back when due and create jobs for others.