Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has said the Federal Government is committed to the reduction of graduate and non-graduate unemployment in the country.
He said this in Calabar during the inauguration of a School-To-Work training programme for 150 secondary school pupils in Cross River State.
Ngige said the programme, which would be managed by the National Directorate of Employment, was meant to equip the pupils with employability skills and engage them in meaningful activities during vacation
According to him, the new scheme is designed to engage the pupils in learning haircut skills, phone and computer repairs and others for a period of two months.
“The Federal Government is not unaware of the high level of unemployment in Nigeria. As part of measures to address it, the government has designed programmes and schemes towards skills acquisition for graduates and non-graduates.
“This training programme is meant to equip the pupils with employability skills that would make them self-reliant,” he said.
The acting Director-General of NDE, Mr. Olakunle Obayan, said the idea behind the programme was to provide diverse vocational, agricultural and entrepreneurial training for secondary school pupils during the long vacation.
Obayan said the pupils would be entitled to a stipend during the course of the training.
In his remarks, the Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, said the programme was in line with the state government’s agenda of reducing employment by engaging graduates and non-graduates in meaningful and employability activities.
Ayade, who was represented by the Secretary to the state Government, Mrs. Tina Agbor, advised the pupils to be serious with the training, adding that white collar jobs were fast disappearing in the country.
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