NDE, Edo commence training of 4,000 unemployed

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE), in partnership with Edo State Government has commenced the training of 4,000 unskilled and unemployed persons in Edo State.

Speaking during the flag off of the excercise in Benin City, the Director General of the NDE Dr Nasir Mohammed Ladan who represented the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, stated that the skills acquisition initiative is in line with the Directorate’s mandate of mass employment creation through skills acquisition.

According to him, 4,000 persons from Edo State are part of the 76,600 persons recruited nationwide by the NDE to undergoing training in various vocational skills for eventual self employment.

Senator Ngige commended the Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki whom he said has demonstrated uncommon commitment to mass employment creation by various innovative efforts such as the Edojobs programme which is in tandem with the mandate and programmes of the NDE.

He assured the governor that the NDE will continue to find common grounds for fruitful collaborations with all relevant stakeholders in the employment creation space.

In his remark, the Edo State governor commended the giant strides the NDE has been making in tackling mass unemployment in the country.

The governor, who revealed that the bulk of the trainees were drawn from the Edojobs portal, said that though the agency had intended to train 2000 people in the state, his intervention led to the addition of extra 2000, totaling 4000 people being trained in various small and medium enterprises for improved livelihood.

“One of my campaign promises was to create 200,000 jobs in the state. We are doing everything to achieve that. After the elections, I went to Abuja to seek partners. I went to the World Bank and the NDE to seek support. I didn’t know I was the first sitting governor to visit the agency. The DG, at that time, promised to do everything within his power to assist us in realising our goal for job creation.”

“When I got the notice that they wanted to train, I was told that they had 2000 slot for Edo State, but I appealed to them, intimating them on the peculiar situation we have here, especially with lack of jobs and the lure of illegal migration. The DG then agreed to add 2000 more people to be trained from Edo State.”

He stated that the collaboration between NDE and Edo State will go along way in addressing the current challenge of rehabilitating and meaningfully engaging victims of human trafficking especially those being repatriated from Libya.

He promised to corporate with the NDE in its plan to set up a job portal that will provide linkages for jobseekers and employers worldwide thereby reducing the problems of human trafficking and illegal migration to Europe.

The NDE will provide training for the 4,000 unskilled and untrained persons in Edo State in such vocational skills as Cosmetology, ICT, Catering, welding and metal fabrication, auto mechanics among others. The period of training ranges from two weeks to three months.

A Libya returnee, Miss Grace Idemudia, who is a beneficiary of the training, expressed appreciation to NDE and Governor Obaseki, for the training, promising to utilise the opportunity to start life afresh after her sad experience in Libya.