According to the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian, Disaster Management, and Social Development, a three-month training and distribution of starter packs for 1,500 youth in the North-East subregion for entrepreneurship development has concluded.
The Minister, Hajiya Sadiya Farouk, announced this on Wednesday at the conclusion of the N-knowledge programme exercise in Bauchi, noting that the training is part of the Federal Government’s N-Power initiative.
Farouk was represented by Alhaji Gidado Abubakar, Deputy Director in the Ministry, who stated that N-Knowledge is a component of the N-Power Programme, which aims to develop the skills of 20,000 young Nigerians across the country.
She expressed the Federal Government’s commitment to lifting youths and other vulnerable Nigerians out of poverty and empowering employers of labor.
Farouk stated that the program was designed to provide young Nigerians with relevant skills in creative arts, script writing, and computer hardware in order for them to become competent workers, innovators, and entrepreneurs.
“The program is part of efforts to reduce youth unemployment,” she said, adding that the program “trained, certified, and equipped 1,500 beneficiaries in the North-East sub-region out of over 20,000 beneficiaries nationwide.”
“Participants are expected to set themselves up using the starter packs provided.
“The recipients came from six states: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe.”
“Within three months, they were trained in different clusters on creative arts (animation), computer hardware (repairs and installation, Android phone repair), and script writing,” she explained.
Farouk charged the beneficiaries with making good use of the knowledge gained during the training period.
Malam Umar Tofa, a hardware consultant in the program, explained that the beneficiaries’ training would enable them to handle installation, repairs, services, computer and android-related devices anywhere in the country.
Tofa advised the beneficiaries to take their businesses seriously and to recruit other unemployed youths in their respective areas in order to expand their operations.
Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mrs Raliya Idris of Bauchi said the three-month training had a significant impact on their knowledge and skills, and she vowed to put it to good use and become an employer of labor.
She praised the Federal Government’s initiative to take unemployed youth off the streets and train them to be self-sufficient.