Business
C’River Trains 300 Unemployed Youths
Cross River government has said that no fewer than 300 unemployed youths have been trained in various vocational skills programme in the state.
Mr Raymond Obeten, Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development, disclosed this in an interview with our correspondent, in Calabar.
Obeten said that the training programmes were carried out mainly in collaboration with some Millennium Development Agencies (MDAs) in the state
He told newsmen that the state government, in collaboration with the National Water Resources Institute (NWRI), Kaduna, also trained 36 youths in well-water drilling and rig fabrication skills.
He also said that the state had collaborated with the Nigerian Education Research and Development Council (NERDC), to train and empower five youths on vocational skills.
The Commissioner stated that the Federal Ministry of Youths Development had trained 12 youths, selected from six cooperative societies in the state, in diversified agricultural production, processing and marketing.
He, however, disclosed that some skills training programmes for the youths, earmarked in the Ministry’s 2010 budget, could not be executed due to “a slight policy shift”.
He explained that the policy shift resulted in the suspension of further skills training activities when the ministry could not empower the youths already trained.
“This setback was caused by failure on the part of funding partners to live up to their funding obligations,’’ he said.
Obeten added that “the gap caused by the setback has, however, been filled now with the coming on board of new partners including the state Micro Finance and MEDA and the Entrepreneurship Development Centre.
“Vocational training of youths in various vocational skill is expected to continue in earnest under 2011 budget backed up with appropriate empowerment of beneficiaries to enable them establish their own business’’, the commissioner emphasized.
He further said that the state government had a job placement department in the Youths and Sports ministry which collaborated regularly with the public and government agencies on job opportunities for unemployed youths.
He said that the ministry had also built a database of unemployed youths which contained their curriculum vitae, adding that candidates listed on the database were usually invited for placement if any organisation declared any vacancy.
“ This is one of the ways government uses in tackling unemployment in the state’’, he said.