The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has embarked on registering all unemployed people in Nigeria to engage them in productive ventures.

The Enugu coordinator of the agency, Ifeoma Ezekwe, disclosed this in an interview on Friday in Enugu.

Ms Ezekwe said the exercise was being held across the 36 states, including the FCT, Abuja.

She said the registration was going on simultaneously across the 774 local government areas, adding that it is for all unemployed Nigerians, with or without educational qualifications.

According to her, the essence of the exercise is to capture all unemployed citizens to help the country with proper planning, as well as engage them in profitable ventures to curb crime and boost economic development.

“The country cannot plan without data, data is very important in planning, and NDE, since 1987, has been in the business of reducing the number of unemployed people, making them employers of labour and self-employed,” stated the NDE coordinator. 

Ms Ezekwe explained that NDE had four key programmes: vocational skills, small skills enterprises, rural empowerment and special public works.

She mentioned that the state directorate had just concluded training women in bags and shoe making so that, as full-time housewives, they could have a vocation and earn some money.

According to the NDE official, stipends are provided when the directorate trains citizens.

Ms Ezekwe said the NDE had faced challenges such as a lack of funds and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira re-design policy. She expressed optimism that the directorate would be able to discharge its mandate.

The NDE official called on the state government to assist the agency with vehicles to access hard-to-reach LGAs. 

(NAN)