By Nitoni Osain, Yenagoa
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has commenced the flag off of the second phase of the Renewed Hope Employment Initiative, in Bayelsa.
Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Hon. Silas Ali Agara, stated this in Yenagoa, on Thursday, during the flag off ceremony, saying the Directorate made significant strides in fulfilling it’s mandate of employment generation in Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the initiative was launched on November 6, 2024, and successfully trained 32,692 unskilled and unemployed Nigerians in demand driven skills across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The DG, represented by the State Coordinator, Mrs Jones-Kekebou Ebimiete, said that the strategic goals were increasing trainees employability, supporting small-scale enterprises, promoting agricultural productivity, improving rural infrastructure and providing transient jobs.
According to him: “total of 5,532 beneficiaries were resettled with loans and starter packs while linkages to credit granting institutions for those that could not be accommodated under our soft loan scheme is ongoing.
“As we reflect on the achievements of the first phase of the Renewed Hope Employment Initiative, I am excited that the second phase of the RHEI is being flagged off today.
“In the second phase, the NDE will train 41,307 persons in over 30 different skills sets which ranges from vocational, entrepreneurial, agricultural, ICT and activities in the public works sector.
“I am proud to state that arising from the experiences of the first phase, we have improved and digitized our processes through a robust online registration portal fully equipped with scalable backend and geofenced capabilities.
“This has made our process more transparent, fair and equitable as well as providing us with a credible database. The trainees were drawn from the 36 states of the federation, including FCT.
“A minimum of four persons were drawn from each of the 8,809 electoral wards in Nigeria to further ensure inclusivity. A total number of 14,457 beneficiaries will get stater packs to help them establish themselves in their chosen fields,” he said.
He explained that NDE despite the challenges of limited budgetary resources remains committed to equipping unemployed Nigerians with demand driven skill sets, in order to become employers of labour and wealth creators.
On his part, Engr. Okehielam Nwosu, Chief Training Officer, and Head Of Department, Vocational Skills Development, urged the beneficiaries to invest wisely than to misappropriate the loan given to them or sold their starter packs
He appealed to them to take the training that they have learned seriously to be self employed for the betterment of their tomorrow.
In the same vein, the HOD SSE Mr. P G. Abbey urged participants to focus on entrepreneurship as it’s the life wire in nation building among all genders and encourage them to venture into business by first identifying the problem solving needs of the customers.
On his part, Mr Obuza Kingpory, master trainer, said that the skill building and skill development is very important in the society today.
He urged the youths to create employment for themselves and to provide food for their household and the society at large.
One of the beneficiaries Mr Timi Ebimie, commended the Federal Government, led by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu GCFR, for the initiative to better the lives of the Nigerian youths.
He lauded the NDE for making their dreams come true and to be self sufficient, after their training, and giving of loans to start their own business.
