By Adewale Banjo
National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in collaboration with Aisha Binani in Adamawa Central senatorial district, Yola, has trained and empowered over 5,000 youths and women including people with special needs and the aged.
Head, Information and Public Relations, Israel Adekitan, in a statement, yesterday, said the training and empowerment exercises were carried out under constituency projects being executed by Binani, senator representing Adamawa Central since 2019.
NDE Director General, Abubakar Fikpo, along with NDE top management team, was recently in Yola, Adamawa State, to commission chain of meat and fish cold rooms project built and equipped by the senator in collaboration with NDE as part of constituency projects for job creation and good use of the people of Jimeta abattoir area of Yola.
In his remark, Fikpo lauded Binani for effective and efficient senatorial representation, ingenuity, courage and compassion.
According to the director general, the commitment of the senator to the service and well-being of the people she represented is overwhelming, well cherished and appreciated by the beneficiaries.
While calling on the people of Yola Central senatorial district to encourage the senator to do more, the director general urged the beneficiaries of the cold rooms to put the facility in good use for long term benefit. He called on the unemployed in Adamawa State to take advantage of self-employment opportunities presented by the NDE.
NDE, in the last three years, under the leadership of Fikpo, has created thousands of jobs, mainly self-employment, through constituency projects nationwide. This was aside over four million jobs created through its four core programmes namely; Vocational Skills Development, Small Scale Enterprises, Rural Employment Promotion and the Special Public Works.
In a similar development, the Adamawa State Poverty Alleviation and Wealth Creation Agency (PAWECA) has honoured Fikpo, with award of excellence in recognition of his efforts towards youths and women employment in Adamawa State and Nigeria.
NDE has trained and empowered over two million Nigerian women in the last three years. The event took place at the Adamawa Government House and was attended by top government functionaries of Adamawa State.
In another vein, the Federal House of Representative called on the NDE and SMEDAN to train 100,000 youths and 75,000 women in Sokoto State. This was as a result of the motion moved by a House member, representing Goronyo/Gada federal constituency, Musa Adar, on the need to provide job opportunities and resuscitate economic activities of the people in areas worst affected by banditry in Sokoto State.
Upon the motion, the House clearly resolved to call on the NDE and SMEDAN to train 100,000 youths and 75,000 women to resuscitate economic conditions of the affected victims of banditry in the State.
To this end, the government of Sokoto State invited Fikpo to be part of the joint committee that will be constituted and saddled with the responsibility of job creations in the state. The committee was recently inaugurated by Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal.
According to the governor, there is an urgent need to address the worsening insecurity challenges in some parts of Sokoto State. To achieve the objective of job creation in Sokoto State, NDE is seen as a major stakeholder as a result of its pedigree in job creation nationwide, especially in the last three years under Abubakar Fikpo.
Besides, NDE is the apex job creation agency in Nigeria with presence in all the 774 local government areas in the country. Fikpo has repeatedly said NDE, under his watch, will continue to design programmes and schemes aimed at empowering the youths and unemployed Nigerians.
According to the director general, NDE has many marketable skills that are well crafted to meet the needs and aspirations of each and every willing Nigerian.