Delta kicks off job creation scheme with 810 youths

– NAPTIP seeks more collaboration against human trafficking

The Delta State government will today inaugurate the 2019/2020 cycle of its job creation scheme with 810 youths.

The Chief Job and Wealth Creation Officer, Prof. Eric Eboh, who disclosed this yesterday in Asaba, said Governor Ifeanyi Okowa would officially open the two-headed project.

The Skills Training and Entrepreneurship programme (STEP) and the Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP), according to him, would also feature a mini-exhibition of agricultural products and creative works of the beneficiaries.

He said: “The cardinal goal of the flagship programmes is to tackle unemployment and create wealth for a new generation of entrepreneurs, thus boosting sustainable prosperity for all Deltans.

“Over 4,200 youths have benefited from the strategic wealth creation scheme and provision of jobs since its maiden roll-out on Wednesday, August 26, 2015, at the Songhai Delta, Amukpe, Sapele.”

The policy economist and development expert noted: “The human capital growth scheme opened a floodgate of endless cycles of skill acquisitions, know-how and establishment of youths in agricultural clusters across the state.”

Recalling how YAGEP and STEP evolved, Eboh stated: “The frontline component of Okowa’s SMART agenda – wealth creation – is envisioned to empower young entrepreneurs equipped and motivated with excellent skills to become self-employed and successful business owners.”

The economic empowerment programmes had been endorsed and adopted by the World Bank for funding support under the World Bank-European Union SEEFOR project in the state.

He described the impact of the job and wealth creation initiative as a tribute to the passion of a responsive government committed to stimulating the growth and development of micro, small and medium scale enterprises as the bedrock of Nigeria’s economic fortunes.

Meanwhile, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has sought more collaboration with the state’s Task Force on Human Trafficking in the areas of joint operations and sensitisation.

The agency’s Director-General, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, commended Governor Okowa for consistently supporting the anti-human trafficking and irregular migration fight to contain the menace that had become endemic in parts of the state.

Speaking in Asaba at an interactive meeting between NAPTIP and the Peter Mrakpor-led task force, Okah-Donli applauded the chair and members of the panel for their awareness campaigns.

She charged them “to put machinery in place for the inauguration of the task force at the local government level even as we are advocating for more collaborative joint programmes between NAPTIP and the state’s task force in the areas of joint operations and sensitisation campaigns.”

Earlier, Mrakpor, who doubles as the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, told the NAPTIP DG and her team, including the representative of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Saskia Kok, that his body was not relenting in its avowed commitment at winning the war against trafficking.