The Director-General, National Directorate of Employment, Silas Agara, has said the selection of beneficiaries for the Federal Government’s 93,731 jobs for unskilled and unemployed persons is credible.

He spoke on Friday during the orientation and inauguration of the ‘Renewed Hope Employment initiative 93,731 Jobs’ and empowerment for programme held at the NDE Training Centre in Kaduna.

Mr Agara said, “Inclusiveness has been a cardinal consideration as we designed this programme. We ensured that a minimum of 10 persons from each of the 8,809 electoral wards in Nigeria were recruited to benefit from the 30 skill sets across our four core programmes. The NDE under my watch has ensured the adoption of cutting edge technology in the design and execution of this programme.’’

Represented by the acting Director, North-West, Danjuma Shehu, Mr Agara explained that 40,000 out of the 93,731 persons enrolled in the programme would be receiving training in ICT and digital skills.

According to him, the initiative is a deliberate step by the NDE  to equip the youth with emerging skills that would enable them to become globally competitive.

Earlier, the acting State Coordinator, Halima Waziri, stated that many people applied for the programme online but only 2,693 beneficiaries were selected for the state.

She explained that the directorate would provide vocational, agricultural and entrepreneurial skills training.

Similarly, it would provide complementary transient jobs opportunities in the public works sector using over 30 different skills sets.

Ms Waziri added that start-up capital, equipment and working tools would be provided for deserving participants at the end of the training.

She stated that others would be linked to credit granting institutions to access loans.

Ms Waziri urged the participants to be serious with the programme by being punctual and pay attention to the lessons to be taught.

Meanwhile, some of the participants appreciated the government for the initiative, saying it would help tackle unemployment in the country.

A graduate of Chemical Engineering, Mannan Benjamin, said he was happy to be part of the participants, saying that he applied to learn data analysis due to the high demand of the skill.

Similarly, a student, who applied for agriculture, Surayya Waziri, said she hoped to learn fishery.

(NAN)