Unemployment: Over 41,000 Youths Undergo NDE Training

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has disclosed that about 41,307 Nigerian youths are currently undergoing various skill acquisition programmes across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The director-general of the NDE, Silas Ali Agara, said the ongoing training forms part of the second phase of the Renewed Hope Empowerment Initiative (RHEI) designed to equip young Nigerians with marketable skills that can make them self-employed or employers of labour.

Agara who spoke in Abuja at the Annual Labour Conference for National Development, noted that over 33,886 youths had earlier been trained in various demand-driven skills under the first phase of the RHEI between the third and fourth quarters of 2024.

He added that 4,683 beneficiaries were resettled with loans, starter packs, and business tools to enable them begin small-scale enterprises.

Represented by Amiola Muftau, the NDE DG reiterated that the agency’s operations are guided by four core programmes, Vocational Skills Development (VSD), Small Scale Enterprises (SSE), Rural Employment Promotion (REP), and Special Public Works (SPW) with each targeting a specific segment of Nigeria’s unemployed population.

He listed some of the agency’s training schemes to include the Basic and Advanced National Open Apprenticeship Schemes, Community-Based Training Scheme, and School-on-Wheels under VSD; as well as Start-Your-Own-Business and Women Empowerment Branch under SSE.

Others include the Sustainable Agricultural Development Training Scheme, Poultry and Fish Farming Production Training Schemes under REP, and the Graduate Attachment and Solar Energy Training Schemes under SPW.

Agara reaffirmed the Directorate’s commitment to tackling unemployment and poverty through sustainable empowerment, enterprise creation, and agricultural engagement.

He said, “Presently, about 41,307 youths are undergoing training across the country under the four core programmes.

“We remain fully committed to reducing unemployment and poverty to the barest minimum, as there is no alternative to doing so.

“Over 33,000 youths were trained last year, and nearly 5,000 have already been resettled with loans and starter packs to begin their own businesses”.