NDE Tackling Unemployment Via Skills Acquisition – Fikpo

National Directorate of Employment (NDE) director-general, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, said Nigeria has achieved a lot in its drive to combat unemployment and poverty among unemployed and vulnerable groups, especially women and youths.

Speaking during the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) Lunch Time Seminar in Abuja, Fikpo said these efforts have translated into the creation of millions of skilled labour in micro and small enterprises in both rural and urban communities in the formal and informal sectors of the economy, thereby, absorbing and engaging unemployed youth and women in decent employment.

He said, “The NDE came into being in 1986 out of the need to combat the problem of mass unemployment which was on the increase due to certain prevalent socio-economic factors.

“These factors still subsist, thereby making the Directorate more relevant than ever before. The NDE Management, therefore, stepped up innovative initiatives towards creating more employment opportunities for unemployed Nigerians.”

He said under the current regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, substantive fund was invested immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic to implement strategy to mitigate the effects of the pandemic through various palliative measures which include the 774,000 jobs, conditional and non-conditional cash transfers, etc.

“His Excellency, the President has graciously approved the allocation (with corresponding funds for the completion of a mighty seven-story building with basement to NDE as its permanent corporate Headquarters. The building was one of the sized properties from corrupt persons by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) located at a choice area in Gudu District, FCT Abuja.”

“This is a sure journey towards the realisation of President Buhari’s desire to lift Nigerians out of poverty, which the Directorate already keyed into in order to guarantee sustainable employment and wealth creation opportunities for the growing number of unemployed Nigerians,” he said.

On how NDE is developing its job creation schemes and programmes, as well as structurally executing them considering the realities of the resources at its disposal for the herculean task, he said, “In designing the employment creation programmes, the National Directorate of Employment takes cognizance of the following factors: the declining interest of youths in the agricultural sector which had traditionally provided the bulk of employment, particularly in the rural areas. The deteriorating condition of urban and rural infrastructure due to the dearth of foreign exchange earnings to procure and maintain construction machinery and equipment as against the surplus labour (unemployed hands) available in the country.”

He said the expectations of graduates of tertiary institutions are for non-existent white-collar jobs while their backgrounds do not prepare them to take advantage of the opportunities for self-employment in the formal and informal sectors of the economy.