By Dauda R Pam MAIDUGURI
As part of multidimensional efforts to address the scourge of unemployment in Borno State, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum has visited the headquarters of the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, in Abuja,in search of training opportunities available for the teaming unemployed youths in the state.
NDE’s Director General, Dr Nasiru Ladan Argungu, overwhelmed with joy, said Zulum was the first northern Governor to visit the directorate’s headquarters and for that, he has priority attention for Borno State in addition to security challenges that confer comparative advantage on the state.
Governor Zulum said,addressing the problem of mass unemployment looks promising in tackling some of the root causes of Boko Haram insurgency in which some fighters were attracted through economic means.
Governor Zulum explained that security and youth empowerment are critical in his twin approach to insurgency and that,
“Our interface with the National Directorate of Employment will open a vista of opportunities for us to see how genuinely we can train our youth to have sources of livelihood and to be beneficial to the society”, Zulum said.
He lamented that some groups who make interventions claim to conduct specialized trainings within days. He described it as unrealistic.
“We have seen situations where somebody can tell you that they have trained welders in one week, or tailors in one week. I have even heard someone said they trained carpenter in three days. The situation is very obvious and will not be allowed to remain unchanged.”
According to him,he was at the NDE alongside Commissioners of Higher Education as well as Science, Technology and Innovation,so as to directly discuss areas their ministries will engage the NDE.
Responding,Dr Nasiru Ladan Argungu, the NDE’s Director General, commended Governor Zulum for his aggressive efforts in Borno State adding the visit was first others it’s kind by any northern GOVERNOR.
He said that the mandate given to NDE is to create jobs through entrepreneurial development that involves identifying established experts in vocational jobs, pay them to train applicants and also pay stipends to the trainees during the learning period.
“We combine three things. We do not move trainees out of their communities. We identify resident entrepreneurs who have the skills and the workshops like mechanics, carpenters et cetera and we pay them to train applicants based on their chosen fields. We also pay stipends to the applicants when they start training. What we now need is for Borno to identify what they want and we will provide them with very special interest in Borno”, Argungu said.
Ends.
