The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has begun a 5-day training of 950 unemployed graduates across the 19 Northern states through its ‘Start Your Own Business’ (SYOB) project.
Declaring the training open on Monday in Kano, NDE’s Director General (DG), Malam Abubakar Nuhu-Fikpo said the training is for unemployed graduates desiring to take up self-employment by becoming young entrepreneurs.
Represented by Nnodi Queenneth, an Enterprise Development Officer from the NDE headquarters, Nuhu-Fikpo said 50 unemployed graduates were selected from each of the Northern states and the FCT.
He said the training is also to equip participants with entrepreneurial skills that will enable them to establish and manage their businesses effectively.
Nuhu-Fikpo said the essence of the training was for the graduates to know how to develop a business idea, write a feasibility plan to secure loans either from government or financial institutions.
According to the NDE DG, the government wants to see them become employers of labour at the end of the business training.
Nuhu-Fikpo added that start up capital would be given to some of the serious participants, especially those with good feasibility reports.
Alhaji Iliyasu Ahmed, the NDE Coordinator in Kano, said the programme at the end would be more interesting for the participants, urging them to pay attention.
He advised the participants to take the training very seriously, adding that it was a painstaking effort for the directorate to select only 50 persons from the state.
According to him, some of the participants who were not self-employed before, would know and appreciate the NDE and the Federal Government for engaging them.
One of the participants, Ahmed Yusuf commended the Federal Government and the NDE for the opportunity given to them to participate in the programme.
He assured the government and NDE that the participants would ensure to utilise the opportunity.
