Public work beneficiaries will be self-made, says Onu

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, yesterday in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, said that beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s 774,000 extender Public Work Programme will be self-made and sought after by employers of labour after three months of the programme.

Onu stated this during the flag-off of the programme for Ebonyi, noting that 13,000 youths from the state would benefit from the programme supervised by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).

He called on the private sector to employ the participants after they had acquired additional knowledge and skills in the process of implementing the programme, adding that the programme was introduced to reduce hardship in the country with 1,000 unemployed youths benefiting from each of the 774 councils across the country.

Onu said: “COVID-19 shook the whole world, resulting in enormous economic dislocation in our country. This further aggravated unemployment, as many factories and businesses were closed to reduce the spread of the pandemic.

“The President, in his determination to reduce hardship and suffering in our dear nation, took the decision to offer assistance to as many as 1,000 unemployed youths in every council in the country.”