*advocates skill acquisition to alleviate unemployment
By; MKPUMA ENYINNA, Abakaliki
Following the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has said that Nigeria is passing through difficult times because the country relies on crude oil to survive and therefore, advocated for every Nigerian to acquire skills in order to be self employed.
The acting state Coordinator of NDE in Ebonyi State, Pst Dom Anaba expressed this during a media tour of various NDE training centres across the state to ascertain and showcase what they have done over the years.
The media tour was facilitated by the acting state Coordinator, Pst Dom Anaba; the Senior Information officer, NDE Headquarters Abuja, Mrs. Ifechukwude Adewole and other principal officers.
Among the training centres visited were, CY Farms, Female World Garments,Chums Creative House, Grace Plus Garden, Agricultural Skill Training Centre, Ezzamgbo amongst other farms visited.
Addressing the trainees at Agricultural Skill Training Centre, Ezzamgbo the acting state Coordinator, Pst Dom Anaba stated that it is important for every Nigerian to have skills in order to be self reliant saying that Nigeria is passing through a lot of challenges because the depend on crude oil and therefore advocated for Nigerians,more especially young people to come back to agriculture and learn skills that will add values in their lives.
Pst Anaba further explained that the media tour is to showcase their achievements over the years in various states of the Federation adding that NDE is diversified and cuts across all the areas unemployment is generated adding that under agriculture, they have Rural Employment Promotion Department, Engineering Department and Small Scale Enterprises.
Others include, Environmental Beautification Training Scheme, Special Public Works Department, etc
He therefore, enjoined unemployed youth not to commit evil to succeed because developed nations like china,Japan, American economy are being driven by informal sector.
“One thing that is very important in Nigeria today is acquisition of skills.
“Nigeria in the past generate their source of revenue from Agriculture but at a point,it was abandoned and rely on crude oil which makes it difficult for people to survive today,but I am happy that with wisdom, we are gradually coming back to farming.
“We want you to learn skills more especially farming skills in order to be self employed.
“We should go back to agriculture and see what we can learn with our hands.
“The purpose of this media tour is weigh the programme of NDE as exhibited through the activities of the state.The media tour is to know actually what they NDE is doing in all the states of the federation.
“NDE is diversified cutting across all the areas unemployment is generated and this includes agriculture where we have Rural Employment Promotion Department.
“In the Agricultural Department,we recruit Many of the trainees and train them in Agricultural skills;ranging from core production, animal production,small and large scale production etc.
“We have Engineering Department
“NDE in Ebonyi State have trained not less than ten thousand unemployed youths in various skills.We also have small scale enterprises where we showcase basic business programmes.
“Others are special public works Department, Environmental Beautification Training Scheme, SYOB which means `Start your business programme’ among others.”
Also speaking, the HOD in charge of Rural Employment Promotion, Mr.Gabriel Ozibor noted that the have class room in the farm where the theoretical framework are being carried out and also the demonstration environment where practical aspect do take place which has fish pond, poultry farm that can contain one thousand two hundred broilers and some hectrs of land for crop farming.
He further explained that since January 2021 when the farm was established,over 300 persons has been trained under the Sustainable Agricultural Training Scheme.
Also, the trainees in Ebonyi State expressed satisfaction with the level of training in various NDE centres across the state.
In a visit to one of the beneficiary’s fishery farm at Obuegu Aba in Ebonyi LGA, Mr.Emmanuel Ude lauded the activities of NDE in Ebonyi State stating that after his training in August 2021,he received a loan of five hundred thousand naira to start his fish farming this year, 2022.
“ I was trained in August,2021 and I benefited this year, 2022 I was giving the sum of five hundred thousand Naira as loan.
“Before I got they loan,it was difficult for me to afford the high exorbitant cost of fish feed in the market.So, when I got the loan,it enabled me to buy a lot of feed and also enabled me to buy palleting machine.
“Already, it is an existing farm, when you add all I have as equity to what I got as a loan,it enabled me to expand to where I am today.I have improved beyond what it was when NDE came to my aid.
At CY Farms, Female World Garment, Grace Plus Garden, Chums Creative House, Guidee Engineering among others visited, the trainees expressed satisfaction over the quality of training giving them and therefore applauded the ingenuity of NDE to alleviate unemployment in Nigeria.
Some of the trainees in various locations like Miss Okey Joy, Onwe Ejike, Alua Kingsley, Benedict Chigozie said they decided to enroll into the programme because of unemployment saying that the training ranges from 3 to 6 months .
“My name is Onwe Ejike, I started my training on April this year.We are receiving training on poultry, fishery ,crops, animal and agricultural extension .We have transportation problem and we need money for transportation.
“I am Okey Joy,We are receiving training on fashion designing.I am satisfied with the level of training I am receiving here.This is a three months programme.I decided to venture into this training because there no job in Nigeria.
Recall that the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) was established in November 1986. It began operations fully in January 1987.
The birth of the Directorate was predicated on the effects of the economic recession of the ’80s which led to a drastic reduction in capacity utilization and consequent outright closure of industries in Nigeria
