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NDE to partner Edo government on jobs creation initiatives

By Collins Olayinka, Abuja
15 August 2017   |   4:19 am
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and Edo State government have agreed to collaborate on creating jobs for the unskilled and unemployed in the state.

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and Edo State government have agreed to collaborate on creating jobs for the unskilled and unemployed in the state.

The decision was reached when the Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, visited the NDE in Abuja.

While welcoming the governor, the Director-General of the NDE, Ladan Mohammed, described Obaseki as an intelligent technocrat with a strong passion for youth employment.

He acquainted the governor with NDE’s potentials, programmes, activities, achievements and new employment initiatives towards creating employment opportunities for the unemployed in the country.

Ladan stated that with its spread and experience, the NDE has become a force in the country as far as job creation was concerned, saying the unemployment situation in the country was worrisome and that the challenge should not be left to the Federal Government alone.

He said inter-governmental and agency collaborations was one of the ways to effectively tackle unemployment in the country.

He decried the situation where thousands of Nigerian youths have died in the Sahara desert and Mediterranean Sea while trying to cross to Europe in search of jobs as unfortunate.

Ladan stressed that NDE would soon launch a website to help generate data for the unemployed and also serve as intervention tool for labour export.

He explained that the concept would be modeled after those of the Philippines and Bangladesh where labour exchange and diaspora in-flows contribute significantly to the economy.

“Nigerians will travel if they wish to but it shall be with dignity because there will be government’s interactions, this will also go a long way to checkmate human trafficking,’’ he added.

He, therefore, directed the Edo State office of the NDE to work out a framework for an effective collaboration with the state government on employment creation.

Speaking, Obaseki lauded NDE’s potentials and achievements over the years, saying, “We shall collaborate with you because we realise you have government mandate to create jobs, you have veritable job programmes and skills centres for vocational trainings.

“We are also looking into agriculture, we want our people to be trained in poultry farming, animal rearing, fishery and food processing. Today, we cannot talk about entrepreneurship training in agriculture without considering technology. We are convinced that NDE has done a lot in those areas. It makes sense coming to you,” he stated.

He observed that the challenge of socio-economic development in the country was not lack of money and resources but wastages emanating from duplication of functions, facilities and efforts.

He added that the NDE has enough structures to address unemployment in the country.

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