By Habibu Harisu
Sokoto – The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) says it will empower 1,800 youths on active business entrepreneurships aimed at stimulating business growth across the federation.
Its Director-General, Dr Nasiru Argungu, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Sokoto.
He said the initiative was tagged “50 under 30s’’.
Argungu said 50 youths would be selected from each of the states to be trained on different business skills with working tools as well as link them with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Bank of Industry (BoI) to access funds.
He said NDE would continue to serve as bedrock of achieving success of Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda geared towards reviving economic growth and progress, in recognition of vast facilities present on its platforms.
According to him, NDE has 691 local government offices out 774 total local government areas in the country with 74 skill acquisition training centres.
He explained that NDE’s present leadership had reduced occupational training being taught at the centres from 80 to 10, to have more concentration and expertise.
The director-general added that the directorate partnered with relevant government agencies to ensure maximum execution of its mandates, noting that various organisations were consulted when investigating the figures of unemployed persons in the country.
“Programmes of providing more employments are designed for targeted populations through maximum usage of NDE structures to be strictly supervised by the headquarters,’’ Argungu said.
“The 30 years of NDE establishment had led to production of experienced workforce that needed to be encouraged for maximum execution of its mandates and training of young ones that would sustain the future challenges.’’
“Management realised as imperative to train and re-train NDE personnel to acquire the appropriate skills, knowledge and the right attitude to enhance productivity and efficiency to meet the special needs of directorate operations,’’ director-general added.
According to him, training is a very vital incentive and motivational factor for employees in both the public and private sector.
He also described the training as an effective tool for sharpening the skills of the workforce for efficient performance at work.
NAN reports that NDE is currently organising a three-day retreat for its management staff in Sokoto.
The retreat tagged: ”Repositioning the NDE for Operational Excellence through Effective Leadership and Team Building,” started on Aug. 21 and would end on Aug. 24. (NAN)
