President Bola Tinubu has called on Nigerian youths to leverage the skills acquisition programme of the National Space Research and Development Agency for gainful employment.

Mr Tinubu made the call on Wednesday in Abuja during the opening ceremony of the NASRDA skills acquisition project being executed in collaboration with Grassroots Bridge Builders.

He said the project was part of the government’s initiatives under its Renewed Hope Agenda.

The project targets training 60,000 youths with relevant life-changing skills.

“Most of our people are not aware of some of the policies that the president has brought forward because they were not informed or misinformed.

“The NASRDA/GBB project is here to educate, train and allow NGOs, corporate bodies, religious bodies and some support group leaders on these activities, and we have millions of people unaware.

“We want Nigerians to embrace this programme and come up with ideas of how we can get millions, at least 50 million Nigerians, out of this unemployment circle,’’ Mr Tinubu said.

He said the federal government was discussing with companies and government institutions to employ the youths who benefitted from the project.

“These youths, when trained through our platform, we will introduce them to ministries, agencies, parastatals and industries for employment,” he said.

NASRDA director-general Matthew Adepoju said Nigerian youths were intelligent, hard-working and creative, adding that the government was committed to giving them skills for development.

“We can use space science and technology to empower the youth to function in their own ecosystem,” he said.

He stated that the agency had already started a pilot skills acquisition programme on mast installation, maintenance, and management of telecom infrastructure, with over 60 youths participating.

According to him, the training is expected to touch on different sectors, states and local government levels because that is where the bulk of our youths reside.

(NAN)