NDE Signs MoU on Youth, Women Empowerment with Oyo State Government 

The two parties signed the MOU, on Wednesday, at the Agodi Government Secretariat, Ibadan, the state capital.

The Director-General of the NDE, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu-Fikpo, who led a team of senior officers in the agency to Ibadan, commended the Oyo State Government for the initiative and pledged that the NDE was determined to upgrade its vocational skills acquisition training centres.

The acquisition centers were established in the state to meet the yearnings of youths and women for skills and economic self-reliance and to create employment for the unemployed in the state.

The DG stated: “In Oyo State, some of the regular programmes/schemes being implemented include Basic National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (B-NOAS); Basic National Open Apprenticeship (NOA); School On Wheels (SOW); Skill Acquisition Training For Persons with Special Needs; Entrepreneur Development Program (EDP).”

“Women Employment and Income Generating Activities; Women Employment Collaboration Scheme (WECS); Graduate Attachment Programme (GAP); Graduate Coaching Scheme (GCS); Renewable Energy Training Scheme (RETS); Youth Employment and Social Support Operations & Skills for Jobs (YESSO & $4)), in collaboration with the World Bank, and so on,” he said.

Nuhu-Fikpo noted that in addition to the implementation of the regular programme schemes of the NDE, the Directorate was aware that the task of meeting the desire of the youths for decent jobs required a synergy of collaborative initiatives among relevant stakeholders.

He said he was convinced that the partnership would be a shining example for other state governments across the federation.

Governor Seyi Makinde, who was represented by his Executive Assistant on Administration, Reverend Idowu Ogedengbe, revealed that the Oyo State Government considered the NDE as a critical partner towards creating opportunities for self-employment and employability of the teeming unemployed persons in the state, by means of appropriate skilling and training.

Makinde disclosed that the government had, over the years, worked with the NDE on some projects, especially under the Youth Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO), a World Bank-assisted Project that was meant to provide increased opportunities for youth employment and social service delivery, and harmonise the implementation of social protection interventions in the country.

He said, “While we commend the idea behind this partnership, it is important to note that we live in a rapidly changing global economy, which demands new ideas and skills to remain competitive. New technologies, processes and opportunities are being introduced constantly. What this means is that the kind of skills and trainings being provided by governments and development agencies must be reflective of the realities in the employment markets and the workplace environments.”

The governor expressed the belief that appropriate measures were being made towards reviewing the present academic curriculum in higher institutions of learning and technical schools, amplifying the need to equally devise ways of skilling and training the large number of graduates and school leavers.

He said that would give them the opportunity to take advantage of the emerging trends in the primary and secondary sectors of the labour market.

“As we commence this partnership, our desire is to rapidly see to the reduction of unemployment among our youths and women, both within the formal and informal sectors of our state. We must not only focus on skilling and training, we must endeavour to provide mentoring and  monitoring for those under our various programmes, in order to ensure that the whole essence and objective of this partnership is achieved,” he asserted.

Governor Makinde advocated the need to deploy effective business development services towards ensuring success for the programme beneficiaries, adding that it is important to work closely with a view to facilitating access to capital for successfully trained entrepreneurs.