FG repositioning NDE to provide sustainable jobs, lift Nigerians out of poverty —Keyamo

Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo, has said that Federal Government is repositioning the National Directorate of Employees (NDE) to meet its target of lifting 100 million Nigerians from poverty in 10 years and providing sustainable jobs to the teeming unemployed citizens.

Keyamo, who is also the chairman and supervising Minister of NDE, said this at the retreat and inaugural meeting of the NDE Board held in Benin City.

The Minister said he would constitute advisory councils for the state offices and also set up committees to monitor the progress of the Directorate in line with the law setting up NDE while ensuring that the board stays on course to realise President Muhammadu Buhari’s target on poverty eradication.

Keyamo said the rate of unemployment has increased from 26 per cent to 33 per cent and that the only solution to cushion the effects of unemployment is to skill up the Nigerian populace and “There is no way we can create spaces within public institutions to employ Nigerians and clean up the unemployment market,” he said.

Earlier, the Director-General, NDE, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, appealed for increase in budgetary allocation to the Directorate in order to meet up with its demands as he said the budgetary allocation to it has not been increased since 2004 “despite geometric increase in the rate of unemployed persons with its attendant socio economic implications.”

He also suggested the possibility of external funding for the Directorate to meets its target.

In a related development, Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Commission (HYPPADEC) and the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in collaboration with the Minna Institute of Technology and Innovation have organised a three-day training of trainers (TOT) on youth transformation programme (YTP) in Minna, Niger State.

The training was designed to prepare trainers, master trainers and supervisors of trainees in vocational skills acquisition within the states covered by the operations of the Commission under its Youth Transformation Programme.

Participants in the training, drawn from Niger, Kogi, Kwara, Plateau, Benue and Kebbi States, were exposed to the pedagogy of skills training covering over 25 skills set.

At the end of the training, participants are expected to conduct step-down trainings for others so as to facilitate effective skills acquisition training in the participating states.

Speaking during the opening of the training in Minna, the Managing Director, HYPPADEC, Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa, stated that the first step towards the eradication of poverty in Nigeria is value reorientation and attitudinal change among the youth hence the introduction of the Youth Transformation Programme as the main driver of the skills acquisition and empowerment programme of HYPPADEC.

He appreciated the synergy between the Commission and the NDE which, according to him, was the right model for the effective delivery of all people-oriented policies of the Federal Government.

Yelwa added that the Commission would soon empower 3,000 persons drawn from within its operational states with financial grants to improve their businesses and other sources of livelihood.

In his remarks at the occasion, the Director-General, NDE, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, praised the collaboration between the NDE and HYPPADEC which culminated in the training exercise.

He restated the willingness of the NDE to support all institutions of government that are ready to collaborate with it towards self-employment, wealth creation and poverty reduction.

He further stated that the skills acquisition initiated is demand-driven as the various skills selected are relevant to the various states that would benefit from the eventual training.

The Director-General charged the participants to maximise the opportunity being provided by the Federal Government through the TOT. Over 6,000 persons are expected to benefit from the skills acquisition initiative across the six states covered by HYPPADEC with consultancy support from New Approach.

At the end of the training exercise, the participants are expected to fashion a comprehensive training manual that would guarantee a standardised training approach for all the skills set.

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