Business
476 Youths Benefit From NDE Programmes In Delta
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) says that 476 unemployed youths have benefited from its Graduates Attachment Programme (GAP) in Delta since 2006.
Mr Patrick Isedu, the NDE Coordinator in Delta, told newsmen in Asaba that 40 graduates were currently involved in the programme.
He said before the beneficiaries were deployed to relevant organisations for the programme, officials of the agency counselled them in preparation for the assignment.
According to him, the essence of the GAP scheme is to impart in youths the right and practical experience needed to make them relevant and outstanding in the labour market.
“The fortunate thing about GAP is that majority of these youths end up being employed in those organisations where they are attached for the training,” he said.
Isedu also said that the directorate had trained 379 unemployed non-graduates in its Environmental Beautification Training Scheme (EBTS) since 2003.
He said that the EBTS non-graduate scheme enabled beneficiaries to acquire skills, including block making and horticulture.
He said 25 persons were currently undergoing training under the scheme, explaining that the programme was run in a “cycle of six months”.
The coordinator said trainees were paid stipends during training.
He said the directorate had a data bank on youths from where it selected those going for different programmes.
“We are not unmindful of the rate of unemployment in the society but the major challenge is our inability to address the problems due to inadequate finance and seeming lack of interest by stakeholders,” Isedu said.
He advised young graduates and non-graduates to register with the directorate and be guided on how to benefit from programmes of the directorate.
He said that counselling the youths would enable them to discover their hidden talents and assist them to excel in those areas.