The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has been in the business of job provision for unemployed persons in Nigeria through vocational skills and a range of facility empowerment since its establishment in 1986. In this interview with CHRISTIAN APPOLOS, the duo of the Coordinator of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) office of the NDE, Kuduru, Bwari, Mr Noble Onyekachi Chimereze and the Centre Manager, Salami Adedapo, speak on pertinent issues about the work of the agency.
NDE has been around for a couple of decades. What is your rating of its impact in the government’s efforts to reduce unemployment rate in Nigeria?
Sincerely NDE is making a positive impact; it has delivered many people from the net of unemployment. I will say again; NDE is touching lives, but since we are not a broadcasting organisation, we don’t shout about it. It is a veritable truth that we are really touching lives and the NDE has all it takes to provide more employment opportunities for many Nigerians who are seeking jobs to sustain their lives.
The best part of our job creation/empowerment projects are the multiplying impact they have. For example, the owner of an electrical company in Kubwa, Abuja told us he was empowered by the NDE years ago. He even showed us the NDE signboard he gave to signify he was indeed a beneficiary of NDE’s empowerment scheme. Today, go and see how many he has employed.
There are so many success stories of NDE’s job provision/empowerment schemes across the country. From the late 1980s through the 1990s till this very period, it is uncountable the number of persons the directorate has delivered from the net of unemployment and poverty to the status of employment and wealth. Because of the paucity of funds, there is no way we can empower all the people interested at once. So it is step by step.
We even do more than that. We equally offer reorientation counselling to the employed, especially the prospective beneficiaries of NDE’s training and schemes. In fact, one of our mandates is reorientation. Most of our youths and children of today in tertiary education have this thinking that once they come out of school, jobs are available for them but we all know there are no jobs out there. So, when some of them come to NDE hoping that we will link them up with some white collar jobs, we start by having a reorientation talk with them.
First, we know it is not going to sound reasonable to tell somebody who has spent four or five years in a tertiary institution studying and finally graduating to come and learn fashion design or hairdressing. Some of them usually say “me?” while some will just shake their head in disagreement with whatever you are saying. But we talk to them. We do serious orientation of psychology on them. We tell them that the trend now is not white collar jobs but skills acquisition. Here in this centre, we have many of them in different vocational skills programmes undergoing training.
Here in the FCT, we have equally moved forward to collaborate with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). We go to the NYSC camps and tell the youth corpers about skills acquisition and value reorientation. Today, we bring and teach many of them the importance of being entrepreneurs and we have many success stories of many of them. So, we are empowering so many of them. We don’t train and let people go because when you train and let go, it is a waste.
As the country’s unemployment rate continues to rise, do you see NDE being that one-stop government agency where everything skills-for-jobs can be obtained in Nigeria in the near future?
Yes. I believe that that day will come and it may not be too long. The fact is that the government is serious about engaging the unemployed persons in the country in meaningful trades that will translate to jobs and more employment opportunities. Besides, NDE’s mandate statutorily gave it the responsibility to be a link between job seekers and job providers. So, I see NDE being that government agency where all sorts of job creation related activities can be obtained.
Already, my Director-General, Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, is seriously brokering collaborations with other government agencies, private sector and even philanthropist; he is thinking in that direction. I believe the idea is to build a strong network that will give NDE all the support it needs to do more in the direction of providing more employment opportunities for Nigeria’s unemployed persons. We are a country of the future, which means that we will need the NDE to be more equipped for the task ahead.
The target is for the youths who are unemployed to become self-employed. Most of the youths want to make money quickly, but it doesn’t work that way. So, what we will do is to bring them in, train them, empower them. We don’t just train them; we empower them to start their own business, hoping that when they do, they will employ others. And sincerely, there are success stories of those who have been trained and empowered that are doing well.
All it takes is the government’s resolve in that direction and you will see it happen. NDE staff are working hard every day to ensure the mandate of the agency is actualised and we believe that the government is working on it.
How can anyone interested in NDE training and skill acquisition get enlisted?
NDE has offices in all the states of the federation, including Abuja and we have desk officers in all the 774 Local Government Areas. So, you just walk into any state office of NDE or local government headquarters and ask for the NDE. You must see somebody who will direct you to the NDE desk officer. It is that easy. First, you get registered: your name, your education, where do you come from, what do you need? And it is even from there that the job centre people will advise you.
Now, Mr Salami Adedapo, can you tell us more about the skill sets offered by the centre?
We have different types of skills in this training centre. They are: computer application, computer repairs, GSM repairs, plumbing, electrical application and installation, fabrication and welding, carpentry, bricklaying, plastering, tiling, POP design, aluminum work (window casement and doors). Others are catering, tailoring, interior and exterior decoration.
We also have agribusiness trades like fish farming, poultry farming, goat farming, crop production, animal feed production, horticulture and many others such as flowering and landscaping.
What is your observation of the trend in the trainees’ trade preferences?
Well, there are some trades or skills that are no more in vogue. Many young people show less interest in skills like carpentry because it takes longer period and it requires strength and energy. Trades like GSM repairs attract them more because within two months, depending on the brilliance of the trainee, you can catch up. Photography can be learnt within two weeks; these are the kind of trades the youths rush. So, we decided to introduce more trades in vogue like solar energy, dish installation and the likes. But we need more 21st Century kind of trades.
What do think will make your empowerment through training more efficient and effective?
More funds, more facilities. Some of the equipment we have here are outdated. We need more modern equipment to equip the youth adequately. For example in GSM repairs, the workstation we are using here is not what people in the trade use anymore. Besides, using the old workstation is so disadvantageous because it uses electricity, which makes it very expensive to use. The modern one uses gas and once you fill it, it lasts for days. So, the modern one is cost effective and mobile as well.
This is very important to sustain the mandate because 70 percent of the people that come for the training are young people. Many of them are very serious and interested in learning skills to help their lives. Some are so serious that apart from the main trade they registered to learn, they also join others in their own training sessions. Yes, many of our youths want to make it so fast but so many more are very much interested to learn skills and gradually build their own businesses.
Our greatest joy is that some of them are making us proud. Many of them have started business centres and using what they have learnt to make money. People come here asking for some of them for the work of installation, phone repairs and so on. Some have gone as far opening shops in tertiary institutions’ campuses, making money with the trade they have learnt.
Going forward, I think the government should invest more in national orientation on the issues of jobs, encouraging everyone to embrace vocational skills. NDE needs huge support from the federal and state governments and private sector organisations to drive further vocational skills empowerment across the country. Equipping our youths with relevant tech and 21st Century skills will not only increase job opportunities but drive economic growth.
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