Curbing unemployment in Nigeria is a task that must be won — NDE DG

…Flags off Basic Business Training in Rivers

By Barth Ndubuwah, Port Harcourt

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has Tuesday flagged off Basic Business Training (BBT) in Rivers State for  65 beneficiaries, vowing to curb unemployment in Nigeria.

Performing the opening ceremony of the 5-day training programme for school leavers and artisans, the Director General (DG) of NDE, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo said the programme taking place simultaneously in 18 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is meant to inculcate the rudiments of business management skills into artisans and school leavers.

Represented by its Rivers State Coordinator, Mrs Maureen Okeji, the DG said the idea is therefore to enhance business management.

“It is therefore a deliberate effort by NDE to address the menace of business failure created by lack of  managerial skills of new entrants into the informal sector,” the DG said.

He noted that the informal sector is a major contributor to the economy of every nation that absorbs retrenched labour and stimulates productive activities.

This important function, he said, makes it impossible to ignore the informal sector.

Fikpo pointed out that most industrialised countries today did not develop because of the existence of large corporations, but as a result of the activities of the Small Scale Enterprises (SSEs) that created employment for the populace.

He emphasised that the informal sector operators have the potentials of becoming  conglomerates tomorrow, if they can address the technical and management aspects of their businesses.

The DG said it is for this reason that NDE encourages formation of SSEs through its Enterprise Creation Schemes, which support the informal sector through provision of business management training.

According to Fikpo, since the establishment of NDE in 1987, it has been rolling out programmes to tackle unemployment, which are targeted at graduates, school leavers and artisans.

He said the SSE programme is basically to inculcate into the unemployed, the entrepreneurial abilities to make them self-reliant by assisting them to set up their own businesses.

The NDE, he said, is aware of the anti-social activities associated with unemployment and it is poised to providing requisite skills to break the fear of failure for new entrants into business.

The DG urged the participants to commit themselves to the lectures and derive full benefits from the training.

In her remarks, the Ag Director  SSE, Abuja Headquarters of NDE, Miss Chikodi Ike who was represented by Kayode Akindamola re-echoed the essence of the training, which she said is to train artisans and school leavers, thereby providing jobs for the teeming unemployed youths.

Ike stressed that the training, which would inculcate into the trainees modalities of business management, will surely set them apart in their business ventures.

Earlier in her speech, the chairman of the occasion and South South Zonal Director of Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Dr (Mrs) Pius-Imue Beatrice Barisi  identified marketing and and financial management as basic challenges to productivity.

According to her, business people are always envied because of their daring nature.

Barisi who added that 54 per cent of the nation’s economy is controlled by SSEs, urged the trainees to take advantage of the current technology to network and market their products.

Responding on behalf of the trainees, Baakel Baridilo Friday thanked the NDE Management for the gesture and assured that they will not let them down.