NDE empowers 6,110 people in Edo

The federal government, through the National Directorate of Employment’s (NDE) job creation scheme, has empowered 6,110 persons in Edo State. The beneficiaries included 5,000 persons drawn from five local governments of the state who were engaged under the pilot phase of the Special Public Works Scheme of the federal government. The Minister of State for […]

The federal government, through the National Directorate of Employment’s (NDE) job creation scheme, has empowered 6,110 persons in Edo State.

The beneficiaries included 5,000 persons drawn from five local governments of the state who were engaged under the pilot phase of the Special Public Works Scheme of the federal government.

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo, disclosed this in Benin during the flag off of the Special Public Works Scheme, disbursement of Micro Credit Loans and resettlement of graduated trainees under the Vocational Skills Development Programme.

According to him, the beneficiaries will be deployed to provide specific services such as cleaning of public infrastructure, maintenance of public facilities like roads, vegetation control and clearing of drainages in their Iocality.

He explained that the beneficiaries would be paid N20,000 stipend per month over the three months the pilot phase of the scheme will last.

Keyamo added that the remaining 1,110 beneficiaries included 1,069 micro enterprises who received micro loans to enhance their businesses and 41 persons previously trained on vocational skills who received resettlement tools to enable them commence business in the relevant trades.

It was gathered that the beneficiaries were trained in fashion design, welding and metal fabrication, catering, vulcanizing, computer operations and GSM handset repairs among others.

Daily Trust reports that the Special Public Works (SPW) in the rural areas is a federal government programme designed to curb unemployment through short-term engagement of 1,000 unemployed persons per local government for a period of three months.

On his part, Governor Godwin Obaseki commended the federal government for choosing Edo State as one of the beneficiaries of its various intervention programmes designed to address unemployment.

He charged the beneficiaries to make good use of the opportunities that the federal government has provided them through the NDE and assured of support in the implementation of the scheme through effective monitoring.

Also speaking, NDE Director-General Dr. Nasir Mohammed Ladan Argungu said the empowerment programme gulped over N900 million.

He assured that the agency will actualise the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari towards lifting 100 million poor Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.

Argungu noted that the programme, being a pilot, would last for three months, and called on the beneficiaries to use the money judiciously so that after its expiration, they would have capital.

He explained that the first aim was for them to be engaged to take care of their environment, secondly, to have them engaged during the dry season so that they can take care of the streets and thirdly for them to earn something and be on their own.

He stressed that strict monitoring procedures had been put in place to ensure that participants went to their places of assignment as a condition for the payment of the monthly stipend.

He said the beneficiaries have to go to their places of assignment at least 20 days of the month before they could get paid.