By Correspondent in Ilorin
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) says it has embarked on training of 100 youths in Kwara state on sustainable agricultural production and business enhancement scheme to stem the tide of unemployment rate in the country.
Speaking at a one-day orientation and commencement of skills impartation on the programme in Ilorin on Tuesday, the NDE Director General, Mallam Abubakar Fikpo, who was represented by Mrs. Blessing Onwa, said that the programme would enable youtha to think out of the box and start their own enterprises.
The director general, who said that the beneficiaries would be trained on animal and crop production as well as other agricultural schemes for three months, added that the youth would be posted to farms closer to their areas for practical experience.
He urged the participants to adhere to all the instructions of the training, saying that they should exhibit financial discipline with the seed money meant to start up their enterprises when provided to them.
Also speaking, the Kwara state coordinator of the NDE, Mr. Aba Timothy Omachoko JP, told the participants who raised issues of farmers and herders clashes, that the federal government was on top of the security situation, adding that insecurity would be a thing of the past soon.
He also said that the beneficiaries would be exposed to training on fish farming and among others, just as he stressed the importance of attending seminar and workshop.
Contributing, the HOD Rural Employment and Promotion, Pastor Folorunsho Olasehinde, stressed importance of farming, saying that the programme would have positive impact on their lives if taken seriously.
Two participants: Abdulrazak Salami and Victoria Owolabi, who spoke on behalf of the participants, expressed their gratitude to NDE, expressing hope that the programme would make a turn around in their lives.
Meanwhile, the NDE has also trained a total number of 350 youth in vocational skills under its national open apprenticeship scheme (NOAS) in the state.
According to the NDE official from the Vocational Skills Development department, Mr. Charles Aye, the programme which is in two phases, has 20 beneficiaries each from the 16 local government areas of the state participated in the first phase.
He added that the programme had two participants each from the 16 local government areas of the state in the second phase.
