The Coordinator, Able Sea man and Motoman/Oilers, in the Rivers State Ministry of Employment and Empowerment Generation, Mr. Lawrence Bereiweriso, has charged graduates in Rivers State to have more skills apart from their areas of specialisation.

This, he said, will check the trend of unemployment in the state.

Bereiweriso, who made this known to The Tide recently, said if graudates try as much as possible to improve their skills in various areas, it will go a long way in enabling them secure jobs, instead of allowing themselves to be involved in all manner of social vices.

Bereiweriso, who suggested a two-point solution to curb the trend of unemployment stressed the need for entrepreneurship education.

According to him, the entrepreneurship skills would enable youths to be self-reliant, stating that the Rivers State government has made available several training skills for both graduates and non graduate which, he said “would have a variety of opportunities for job exchange.”

Consequently, the coordinator also blamed oil firms for the increasing unemployment rate in the state, stressing that the rate of retrenchment by oil firms has invariably left the youths to unemployment.

He said despite the huge amount of oil revenue made by oil firms in the region, none has been able to plough back the same resources in the form of employment, instead, “they often times employ and after a while retrench our youths due to financial constraints”.

He noted that the resources agitation of the people cannot be faulted considering the social responsibility obligation expected from the oil firms.

On the way forward , Bereiweriso further said that not everybody will be employed in the public sector and advised youths in the region to be involved in empowerment programmes such as those provided by micro finance banks.