NDE trains 100 youths on sustainable agriculture in Imo

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has commenced the training of 100 youths on sustainable agricultural development skills in Imo State.

Director-General of the NDE, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, who launched the training in Owerri, was represented by NDE’s Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Mr Edmund Onwuliri.

He said the training was part of the directorate’s Sustainable Agriculture Development Training Scheme (SADTS).

Fikpo added that the training, which would last for three months, is being carried out in 12 states of the federation with the aim of creating employment for rural communities through training on modern innovative technology.

He also said each trainee would receive the sum of N5,000 monthly as transport allowance, adding that the 100 beneficiaries would be trained on vegetable farming, snail, poultry and pig farming along their value chain.

“This training will surely create more jobs for people in rural communities and reduce rural to urban migration. The NDE attaches a high premium to the empowerment of people and is, therefore, fully prepared to work with the state government to achieve this,” he said.

NDE coordinator in Imo, Mrs Chisara Egwim-Chima, said time has come for rural dwellers to overcome poverty, unemployment and economic scarcity as well as sustain food production to reduce scarcity and hunger.

She advised the beneficiaries to be punctual and committed to the training so as to justify the resources expended on the scheme.

Director of the Rural Employment Promotion department of the NDE, Mr Edem Duke, represented by Mrs Chikodi Okereke, advised the beneficiaries to pay attention to their trainers and take all necessary points home.

The South-East zonal president of the Association of Micro Credit Institutions of Nigeria, Mrs Comfort Nweke, commended the NDE for the training initiative and said that micro start-up loans would be made available to the beneficiaries upon completion of the training.

Also, the Special Adviser to Governor Hope Uzodimma on Religious Mobilisation, Mr Placid Chijioke, restated the state government’s readiness to support the NDE with a view to creating more jobs and fighting unemployment in the state.

In the same vein, the directorate has begun the training of 50 beneficiaries of its Basic National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (B-NOAS) on various vocational skills in Imo.

Director-General of the NDE, Fikpo, performed the launch of the scheme in Owerri.

He was also represented by the NDE’s Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Mr Edmund Onwuliri, who said the three month training will equip beneficiaries with viable vocational and other skills.

The DG listed the skills captured in the scheme to include catering, sewing, mobile phone repairs, soap making and carpentry, among others, as he urged the beneficiaries to commit to the training for optimal benefits.

“The scheme exposes participants to the rudiments of their chosen skills and we, therefore, expect that you absorb yourselves in the programme so that you will be able to give real value to society in the long run,” he said.

Speaking, Imo Coordinator of the NDE, Mrs Chisara Egwim-Chima, said that the training, facilitated by the directorate’s Department of Vocational Skills Development (VSD) will afford beneficiaries the opportunity to become self employed rather than rely on white collar jobs.

She urged seriousness on the part of the beneficiaries so that they would make their families and the NDE proud.

Also, the Director of VSD, Mallam Isa Abdu, represented by Mrs Modesta Ezekwu, a senior staff member of the department, advised the beneficiaries to make personal efforts to improve themselves in the different skills.

This, he said, would enable better understand the lessons to be taught and better equipped in the end.

One of the beneficiaries, Mr Chibuikem Ndukaku, who spoke on behalf of the trainees, thanked the NDE for the opportunity and the resources expended in the training, while pledging commitment to the programme.

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