The Federal Government through the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has flagged off the renewed Hope employment initiative for no fewer than 93,731 unemployed and unskilled youths and residents across the country.
The Director General of NDE and former deputy governor of Nasarawa state, H.E Silas Agara who spoke during the flag off in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital on Friday, December 6, 2024, explained that President Bola Tinubu was determined to engage youths in the country towards economic development and growth.
Represented by the state coordinator of NDE, Sanusi Akeem, the DG added that the initiative involved 10 youths in each of the political wards in the country.
He added that the beneficiaries would be recruited to benefit from the 30 skill sets across the four core programmes of Vocational Skills Development, Small Scale Enterprises, Rural Employment Promotion and Special Public Works.
He said, “Various categories of the unskilled and unemployed have been provided for within the framework of the programme such as school leavers, school dropouts, women, graduates of tertiary institutions, retirees and persons with special needs among others.
“I would like to add that after the training, a good number of the beneficiaries will be resettled into productive entrepreneurial lives through the provision of tools, equipment and startup capital. However, those that we are not able to resettle will be linked with credit-granting institutions for further support.
“NDE under my watch has ensured the adoption of cutting-edge technology in the design and execution of this programme.
“I am delighted to inform you that 40,000 out of the 93,731 persons enrolled in this programme will be receiving training in ICT and digital skills.
“This is a deliberate step by the NDE in order to equip our youths with emerging skills that will enable them to become globally competitive.”
He commended the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, ” is strongly supporting the NDE through the provision of starter packs for some of the beneficiaries across several schemes under this programme.”
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