Governor Dikko Radda of Katsina State said on Friday that his administration recruited at least 10,000 workers since his assumption of office.

Mr Radda disclosed this during an interactive session with some journalists in Katsina, saying the number comprised 7,300 teachers.

The governor said his administration is giving the education sector more attention than others due to its importance, hence the need to recruit more teachers.

He further disclosed that his administration was doing everything possible to make youths in the state self-reliant instead of relying on government jobs.

“We are embarking on the training of youths to engage them in modern farming, and we are targeting those with either a secondary school certificate, diploma, NCE, or graduates.

“Anyone promising to give jobs to all graduates is lying because there’s no job; from our inception, we recruited no fewer than 10,000 people,” said Mr Radda.

The governor said his administration had “inaugurated the disbursement of about N5 billion for small and medium-scale enterprises in the state.”

He also said the state government had provided N500 million as a matching fund, while the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency also gave the same amount to support the people.

He further said there was also a recent approval of N2 billion by the NEXIM Bank for the farmers to access as loans to export their farm produce.

“All these funds are available now; our youths should apply, indicating their interest.

“They will undergo screening to see if they are eligible to access the loans,” Mr Radda said.

He also disclosed that 10 small businesses with growth potential were selected across each local government area of the state.

Mr Radda said the operators of those small businesses would be supported to see if they could improve their businesses.

(NAN)