The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has disclosed that it has disbursed N35.68 million as loan to the graduate trainees under the Small Scale Enterprises (SSE) programme nationwide.
The directorate also said it has created 54 additional new micro businesses and strengthened other existing 1,766 in the last three months nationwide.
The development was made known in a statement issued by the deputy director, information and public relations, Israel Adekitan in Abuja.
According to him, NDE director-general, Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo said that the 54 graduated trainees under the Start Your Own Business (SYOB) scheme were granted loan of Five Hundred Thousand naira each to start their micro businesses after the completion of their training while 1, 766 other existing businesses established by the NDE were also boosted through loan disbursement under the Micro Enterprise Enhancement Scheme (MEES).
He said that the The 18 benefiting states of the SYOB were cut across the six geopolitical zone of Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Gombe and Jigawa. Others are Kano, Katsina, Nasarawa, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto and the FCT.
While the disbursement of Loans under the Micro Enterprise Enhancement Scheme took place in Akwa-Ibom, Adamawa, Abia, Anambra, Borno, Edo, Ekiti, Jigawa, Katsina, and Kebbi.
Others are Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara States.
The DG said, States not captured in the present batch have enjoyed same exercise in the early months of the year, February and March 2023 to be precise.
He called on the unemployed Nigerians to avail themselves of job opportunities as presented by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the NDE and stop the hunt for elusive white collar jobs.
“These are aside loan facilities under other key programmes of the NDE such as Vocational Skills Development (VSD), Rural Employment Promotion (REP) and Special Public Works (SPW) through which diverse trainings and financial interventions have produced millions of jobs”, he said.
