Delta trains youths in skill acquisition

A total of 711 trainees who acquired hands-on practical skills in business management and entrepreneurship skills organised by the Delta State Government to enable them start and run their enterprises graduated recently in their various areas of specialisation.

The celebration took place on January 14 at Songhai-Delta, Amukpe, near Sapele after three-month duration of successfully completing the second leg of the training.

It was against the backdrop that high youth unemployment rate in the country can be reduced through training in agriculture and other skills that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa performed the formal inauguration of trainees under the Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP) and Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) on August 26 last year.

The 2015 cycle featured 17 enterprise categories, comprising four agricultural enterprise categories and 13 non-agricultural enterprise categories. The training centres are 116 STEP and 40 for YAGEP.

Under STEP, the unemployed undergo training in skills or trades such as computer hardware maintenance and repairs; catering and confectionary; electrical installation and repairs; barbing; bead-making; cosmetology, decoration and event management; hair-dressing and makeover; fashion design and tailoring; tiling; block moulding; installation of Plaster Of Paris (POP) and interlocking stones.

Okowa remarked that the passing-out ceremony by the youths who were decked in either jeans or skirt, baseball hats and blue t-shirts was significant because it was the fulfillment of his government’s promise to provide skill for youths and women as part of its strategic approach to tackle unemployment and combat poverty.

The Chief Job Creation Officer, Prof. Eric Eboh said that the passing-out course would be followed with provision of trainees with starter packs, support

for business name registration and buffer stipends. The starter pack includes critical equipment, working tools, operating inputs, buffer monthly stipends, support for overhead costs such as shop rent and infrastructure of facilities (in the case of agricultural enterprises) as well as start-up allowance.

Eboh pointed out that the success of job creation depended on whether the trainees succeed in the various enterprises, noting that the emphasis will now shift from monitoring to mentoring of STEPreneurs and YAGEPreneurs.

A beneficiary, Mrs. Malagu Chineyum from Abii, Ndokwa West Local Council who specialised in vegetables grows tomato, lettuce, cucumber and carrot. The 2010 Bachelor of Education graduate from Delta State University, Abraka (DELSU) admitted that the training was good and she has acquired the relevant experience but was worried about how to raise to acquire money to acquire hectare of land to start off.