17th July, 2017
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE), will train 480 school leavers and artisans on the rudiments of basic business management skills, its Director- General, Dr Nadir Ladan, has said.
Ladan made the disclosure on Monday in Jos at the opening of 5-day training.
Represented by Ms Joyce Yarnap, Director, Small Scale Enterprises at the Directorate, Ladan said the training would be held in 12 states.
He said that two states from each of the six geo-political zones were selected to nominate 40 participants from each state.
Ladan said that the NDE observed that most micro enterprises in the country failed due to lack of basic business management skills.
He said that the training was also part of the efforts of the directorate to address the issue of unemployment and underemployment by new entrants into the informal sector.
Ladan said: “The informal sector is a significant economy of every nation as it stimulates the market economy, promotes flexible labour markets and absorbs retrenched labour from the formal sector.
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“Therefore, the role of the local barber, shoe shiner, hair dresser and similar players in the economy, cannot be disregarded.
“This is more so that the small time barber can become a conglomerate tomorrow.
“Despite the potentials of the informal sector operators, they can only achieve success if they are able to manage the technical and management aspects of their businesses.”
The D-G explained that the training, conducted under the SSE programme, involves the development of entrepreneurial abilities among youths especially graduates of higher institutions.
In his remarks, Gov. Simon Lalong, said that Plateau State Small and Medium Scale Development Agency was ready and willing to assist the trainees.
The governor, who was represented by Mr Alfred Hoomlong, his Executive Assistant on Agriculture, advised the trainees to form themselves into cooperative societies to enable them access funds from the agency.
He urged them to take the training seriously and write quality proposals to agencies to enable access funds to develop their businesses.
One of the participants, Mr Dahiru Ayuba, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, expressed appreciation to the NDE and the Federal Government for their efforts to reduce unemployment in the country.