NDE, UNDP train 56 youths in marketable skills

56 youths have been trained in marketable skills by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Speaking at the resettlement exercise in Bwari, an Abuja suburb, the Acting Director-General of the NDE, Abubakar Fikpo, restated the commitment of the Directorate to the sustenance of provision of marketable skills and adequate jobs for unemployed Nigerians.

The 56 youths were in catering services, photography and GSM handset repairs under the Youths at Risk Programme of the Directorate.

According to Mallam Fikpo, the disbursement exercise was part of the Federal Government efforts at enhancing job creation and promoting self-reliance.

The 56 youths and women who were drawn from Kogi and Plateau States were trained in marketable skills.

The Acting DG revealed that the training is aimed at delivering marketable and functional skills to the beneficiaries, thus creating a pool of competent artisans ready to contribute positively towards the development of their locality and the nation at large.

He stated that after six months of intensive training, the beneficiaries of the empowerment exercise are expected to set up their individual micro-enterprises within their immediate localities where they will contribute to the economic growth of the nation.

He lauded the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) for partnering with the NDE in delivering the training and the starter packs to the beneficiaries.

He further revealed that the UNDP has remained a strong partner of NDE and a veritable institution for the promotion and execution of job creation initiatives in Nigeria.

The Acting Director-General, who charged the beneficiaries to redouble their efforts in ensuring the sustainability of their enterprises and justify the huge capital invested in them, promised to provide mentoring and support services to ensure that the beneficiaries do not relapse into the unemployed market, adding that the initiative was part of the economic policy of the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to create mass employment opportunities for the unskilled and unemployed Nigerians through micro-business programmes and schemes.