NDE train 30 unemployed youths on solar energy in Bauchi 

FROM: PAUL ORUDE, BAUCHI

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has flagged off the training of 30 graduates from Bauchi State under the first phase of the Solar Energy Training Scheme (SETS) 2017.

Speaking at the opening ceremony held at the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) Secretariat, Bauchi, on Tuesday, the Director of Special Public Works (SPW) department of the NDE, Mrs. Henrieta Achigbu, said the scheme would boost electricity power generation and reduce the unemployment problem among graduates in the country.

Achigbu, represented by an Assistant Director in SPW,  Mr. Chris Bamsida, disclosed that the scheme was implemented in 12 states namely Bauchi and Yobe in the north east, Katsina and Kaduna in the north west, Niger and Kwara in the north central, Delta and Edo in the south south,Ogun and Lagos states in the south west and Anambra and Enugu states in the south east.

Daily Sun reports that for the phase one SETS 2017 for Bauchi, 30 graduates from the local governments in Bauchi South Senatorial district were selected by the NDE in collaboration with Senator Nazif Suleiman who is representing the constituency in the National Assembly.

Achigbu charged the beneficiaries selected for the first phase of SETS to count themselves lucky and make utmost use of the enormous potentials and opportunities in solar energy as a source of boosting electricity generation and employment in the country

In his address, the Director General of NDE, Dr Nasiru Ladan Mohammed, said SETS would enable unemployed graduates to explore new employment opportunities to develop critical sector of the economy and the National Needs.

Mohammed who was represented by the Bauchi State Coordinator of NDE, Alhaji Lawan Yahaya Ali, explained that with the slow progress witnessed in power generation in the country, coupled with an explosive population, solar energy has become an alternative to the epileptic power supply in the country with huge potentials.

“This scheme is designed to equip unemployed graduates with skills for energy harvesting and harnessing, installations, procurement and maintenance of solar power generation facilities.

“This intervention will boost and improve electricity power generation for both medium and micro enterprises in the country. It also provides avenue of self-reliance for unemployed graduates after the on-the –job training,” he said.

The DG of the NDE hoped that the training would produce graduates with specialised relevant manpower for development and improvement of the country’s energy sector, hence the importance of adopting Solar Energy training as one of the strategies for employment generation.

In his goodwill message Senator Nazif Sulieman, commended the directorate for initiating SETS, noting that NDE has developed various macro and micro programmes that had generated employment opportunities for millions of Nigerians since its inception.

The Senator, who was represented by Alhaji Galadima Abba, was optimistic that the SETS programme would bring smiles to thousands of unemployed graduates in the country.

Bazif Suleiman assured the directorate of his support to ensure that the graduate trainees selected from his constituency were properly settled at the end of their training.

He said that on his own, he has initiated constituency projects and programmes for thousands of youths to reduce the unemployment problem especially among his people and pledged to continue to do more.