Since 1987 when the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) began operation in Enugu State, the Directorate has touched many lives in the state and across the entire Southeast region.
This trend has continued as was shown when the Coordinator, NDE Enugu State office, Mrs Ifeoma Ezepue, inspected various project centres in the state.
Some of the beneficiaries told Nigerian Tribune how NDE poverty alleviation schemes, change their lives for the better.
One of the beneficiaries, Abraham Nworie, who is now a certified horticulturist, was trained by the NDE a few years ago after he left secondary school and was faced with the harsh reality of unemployment.
“I was not doing anything before I got trained by NDE. I was also assisted with a lot of things. Today I have two people I have employed. I pay them monthly. There are also two other boys I am training,” Nworie said.
Now an employer of labour, Nworie is seeking more assistance so he can expand his craft and also be able to employ more people.
For Mrs Ogechukwu Eze, a widow, through the assistance of NDE, now owns a flower garden from where she feeds her family and trains her children in school.
“I am making money from this business. Though the hard economic situation is affecting us, we are still able to make ends meet,” she said.
Mrs Izuchukwu Modesta owns a poultry farm where she is currently raising over 3,500 birds. She also makes soap which she sells at New Market, Enugu.
Her success story started seven years ago when she took a N100,000 loan from the NDE to start her poultry business. Now she has three workers who she pays N15,000 each to help manage her birds.
“When I heard that NDE was lending people money to help those that are not doing anything, I went there and they supported me with N100,000.
“I can also do soaps and disinfectants. I learnt all these things from NDE. There was a time they came and taught us how to make soap and disinfectants. I started small but that one is expanding too.
However she still craves more assistance from the NDE and other public spirited individuals so she can expand her business.
On her part, Mrs Ego Nwanta got enrolled into a catering and decoration programme of the NDE a few years ago. Today she has over 60 trainees and five staff working under her.
Nwanta said her life has been totally transformed by the skill she was able to acquire under NDE. But she wants the government to help her get a more comfortable accommodation so she can train more people.
In 2019, Blessing Nnamani and 19 others formed a cooperative and were trained by the NDE to start a piggery. They were also given a loan of N400,000 as seed capital.
Today, Nnamani and her colleagues are smiling to the bank as the business turned out to be a gold mine and have finished repaying the loan they took from NDE.
Another member of the cooperative, Mrs Felicia Ude, said that some people who mocked them when they were about setting up the piggery business have now joined the business having seen its impact in her life.
On his part, Jude Okenwa who owns a poultry farm owes it all to NDE. In 2004, after graduating from the university, Okenwa enrolled into the NDE’s Start Your Own Business (SYOB) programme.
Through the programme, he was able to acquire the skills for poultry business. “I enrolled and was attached to a particular farm for six months with little incentive paid to me to cover my transport and feeding. All these experiences and knowledge has brought us this far,”he said.
When he was through with the programme, the NDE gave him a soft loan of N250,000 at a minimal interest rate of nine per cent. He was given a certificate of honour after he repaid the loan before the 24-month deadline.
“Economically, my family has been nourished with food nutrients. I have also provided employment to villagers around. I encourage everyone to embrace agriculture.
“I can say without hesitation that NDE pulled me out of poverty. At that time, I was coming from nowhere and NDE came to my rescue. I must give credit to them.”
Speaking on the impact of NDE programmes, Mrs Ifeoma Ezepue, said that the Directorate is doing its best to create wealth for the people and to reduce poverty in the land.
“Our Director-General really has it in heart to help the youths in the country. Paid employment is no more the way forward. We are engaging the youths to make them acquire skills and to also teach them how to start their own businesses.
“We give them soft loans or introduce them to other loan granting offices or established businesses to monitor these businesses to make them do better. In these programmes, the NDE tries to touch the heart of the nation,” she said.
Ezepue said that of the current batch of trainees under the NDE in Enugu State, 42 beneficiaries were resettled in July while seven participants received N500,000 each. She also said that over 500 participants received various sums ranging from N50,000 to N100,000 between March and June this year.
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