The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) through the Head of Civil Service of the Administration, Mrs. Grace Adayilo, has expressed the willingness of the FCTA to sustain the development of entrepreneurial skills being carried out by Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA) for all residents of the territory, especially the youths.
In a statement signed by the team lead, Corporate Communications of Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA), Emmanuel Tortiv, Adayilo, stated this at AEA’s Complex in Abuja during the Grand Finale of the second batch of the 2024 Youth Entrepreneurship Programme (YEP).
She said that the FCT Administration under the exemplary leadership of the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, would continue to place utmost priority in youth development and sustain the tempo of its interventions in the Enterprise Development sub-sector towards creating viable opportunities for women, youths and indeed all residents of the FCTA.
Adayilo maintained that it is important for young Nigerians to be equipped with skills that would enable them compete in today’s global society where innovation and creativity drive the economies of many nations.
Represented by the director of Information and Communication in FCTA, Muhammad Hazat Sule, the Head of Service disclosed that the Abuja Enterprise Agency was set up as the FCT’s vehicle for enterprise development with a mandate to develop and implement programmes aimed at fostering job opportunities and engendering economic prosperity.
Speaking further on YEP, Adayilo emphasized that the Youth Entrepreneurship Programme (YEP) was conceived by the FCT administration out of the desire and enthusiasm to encourage the culture of entrepreneurship and self-reliance amongst the National Youth Service Corps Members (NYSC) to build their entrepreneurial capacity to become job creators instead of walking the streets as job seekers.
She revealed that through the support of the FCT Administration, AEA has successfully trained 58 youths inclusive of graduates and serving corps members from various organizations at the Second Batch of 2024 Youth Entrepreneurship Programme with several significant business orientations.
The acting Head of Civil Service also commended the FCT minister, Barr. Nyesom Wike, for his zeal in developing Abuja, not only in the area of infrastructure, but equally in the area of human capital development.
She insisted that by approving the training of young Nigerians in entrepreneurial skills, the minister demonstrated compassionate love for the socio-economic upliftment of the youth, who are tomorrow’s leaders.
Speaking earlier, the mandate secretary, Economic Planning, Revenue Generation, and Public Private Partnership (EPRG&PPP), Mr. Ubokutom Nya, represented by the director legal, in the EPRG&PPP Secretariat, Mr. Harisu Umar, said it is a revolutionary era where entrepreneurial skills must be properly embraced in order to advance the socio-economic lives of the residents of FCT.
Elechi, who emphasised that any individual who fails to plan, has succeeded in planning to fail; commended AEA for showing the FCT residents, especially the younger ones the right path to follow by training them on entrepreneurship skills.
He said that the EPRG&PPP Secretariat will always give its maximum support to the Agency and will continue to encourage programmes that are geared towards improving the economic prospects and well-being of the residents of the territory, particularly the youth so as to obtain the entrepreneurial skills, which will in turn improve the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In his remark at the occasion, the acting managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Abuja Enterprise Agency, Mr. Chudi Ugwuada-Ezirigwe, said the agency’s training has enhanced the youth’s entrepreneurial knowledge and built in them the capacity to initiate, develop, and run successful businesses, thereby making them global future job creators.
Ugwuada-Ezirigwe, who enjoined the trainees, especially corps members to put to use what they have learned from the training, said the YEP is a modern way of training youths especially in the absence of white collar jobs.
He disclosed that the YEP, which was initiated 17 years ago, has succeeded in training and equipping more than 20,000 corp members as well as fresh graduates and unemployed youths while building them with the capacity to start and nurture them to become job creators.
