By Cross Udo, Abuja
The Federal Government, through the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), yesterday said that it was hoping to train 90,000 youths in thirty different skills within three months.
Director-General of NDE, Silas Ali Agara, disclosed this while interacting with journalists in Abuja.
He said that the programme, which will involve ten people from each electoral ward across the country, will run for three months. He added that the recruitment would be done through online registration in a dedicated portal.
The NDE DG said the programme is in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, and the directorate’s mandate is to create jobs and generate activities that will give hope to the youth.
Agara said, “We are hoping to train over 90,000 youths in about thirty skills spread across four departments. We can start by recruiting youths to log into our portal, which is over 90 percent ready.”
He said that NDE should be able to bring the portal functional before the end of the week, adding, “The programme will run for three months with an immediate roadmap generated in-house. We are looking at ten persons per electoral ward.”
Agara said that to get the process running, NDE has to use technology to support its work, stressing that it has to create a website to store its database.
He further stated that the agency had to set up an application for the artisans it was training, where Nigerians who needed the services of the beneficiaries would log in to make requests.
“We are not going to allow the people we train to roam the streets; they should practice what they learned. We will upload the names of the beneficiaries in the application, and it will cost them nothing,” Agara said.
The NDE boss noted that in the past, the settlement packages of beneficiaries of the scheme have not been encouraging but promised that those who would benefit from the ongoing recruitment and skills acquisition would be settled to be on their own.
He said, “We will look at at least N150,000 to N200,000 as a settlement package. The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs will provide some beneficiaries with settlement packages.”
Agara said that NDE will develop a set of skills that will benefit youths in different environments based on their environmental needs and peculiarities.
He said the directorate has a sufficient workforce but is battling the challenge of motivation and the tools to work with.
