Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KRPC), a subsidiary of NNPC, on Thursday, graduated 100 youths in Kaduna on various vocational courses, after six months training.
Managing Director of KRPC, Mr Ezekiel Osarolube, stated this at the 10th graduation ceremony of the Youth Empowerment and Skill Acquisition Programme (YESAPX), held in Kaduna.
Osarolube said that the gesture was part of the company’s social responsibility to its immediate host communities and its resolve to give back to them.
“The programme, since it commenced in 2018, has so far empowered 1,100 youths and today, 100 youths, selected from different parts of our host communities, are about to graduate and embark on journey to self-reliance.
“Our meaningful contributions to youth development will impact positively on the socio-economic transformation of this nation. Poverty and youth delinquencies have been a major challenge.
“But, I believe that if we make concerted efforts to make the change, the sacrifice, invest in our skills and work hard in our respective endeavours, we can eradicate or, at least, reduce poverty to the barest minimum,” he said.
He urged the graduands to make the most of the rare opportunity, as the company had invested huge resources in them, and not betray the confidence reposed in them by their respective communities.
“We shall further empower the graduands with business starter-packs to enable them hit the ground running in their different trades,” Osarolube noted.
Earlier in his remarks, Executive Director, Services of KRPC, Mr Abdullahi Idris, said that the participants, drawn from various communities around the company’s operational and business areas, underwent training under tested consultants.
He said that the consultants included: Model and Mentors Limited, School of Agriculture, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and National Directorate of Employment (NDE).
Others, according to him, are: Honey Pot Catering and Events Management, Exhale Institute of Beauty and Cosmetology as well as Kaduna Polytechnic.
Idris said that the participants were given the liberty to select their choice of trades, including; visual image and photography, beauty therapy and cosmetology as well as electrical and rewinding.
He listed others to include: catering and events management, GSM repairer/technician, plumbing and pipe fitting, carpentry and wood work, poultry and fish production, screen printing and textile and fashion designing.
Mr Yakubu Shehu, on behalf of the graduands applauded the management of KRPC for the opportunity given to them and assured that beneficiaries would make judicious use of the skills acquired to better their lives in their respective communities.
The Tide source reports that the event was attended by traditional and religious leaders, security agents and people from all works of life.