Ekiti Assembly Ready to Partner NDE on Job Creation, Says Speaker

Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti

The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adeoye Stephen Aribasoye, has urged students, youths, and school leavers to empower themselves with skills in order to become job creators rather than job seekers.

Apparently, concerned with the alarming rate of unemployment in the country, the Speaker identified skills acquisition as a remedy to unemployment, poverty and means to positively contribute to the grassroots economy.

He made the remarks when he received in audience the management of the Ekiti State Office of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) led by the state Coordinator, Mr. Hakeem Olugbenga Sanusi, that was on an advocacy visit to the Assembly Complex.

Aribasoye, who unfolded the readiness of the Assembly to partner NDE in taking many indigent citizens in all the 26 state constituencies out of unemployment, stressed that the Assembly offers the best platform to reach out to the people at the grassroots to tackle the scourge.

While explaining that the present economic realities indicate that white-collar jobs are no longer available, Aribasoye emphasised the need for the young ones to empower themselves with the needed skills to be relevant in this generation, as well as create jobs for themselves and others.

 He noted that job creation is a key component of the six-pillar agenda of Governor Biodun Oyebanji administration which the state parliament has keyed into with a view to reducing poverty and giving economic empowerment to the citizens of the state.

The Speaker said: “Beyond certificates, there is need for our people, especially the youths, to acquire skills which will aid self-employment. One of the biggest challenges in present-day Nigeria is unemployment which is at an alarming rate, and white-collar jobs are no longer there.

“It is one thing to get people trained, it is another thing to get them empowered. The result is in the number of people who are self-sufficient after the training. You need feedback mechanism to know that that is how to measure success.

“The Assembly will collaborate with you; we are representing the whole state and if you want to do anything, you need to run it through the House of Assembly. We represent the people at the grassroots, and you have taken the right step in coming to the right place.

Speaking earlier, the Ekiti State NDE Coordinator, Sanusi, said the agency was established by law to drive the employment and job creation initiatives of the federal government in its bid to boost the productivity of Nigerians.

Sanusi disclosed that since the NDE was established in Ekiti State, it has reached out to over 50,000 people in the state on training on various vocational skills to make them stand on their own economically.

 He added that the NDE is looking at collaborating with the Assembly to facilitate training and empowerment of people at the grassroots in the areas of agribusiness, entrepreneurship development training, and special programmes to take care of the vulnerable people, women, and artisans.

The NDE chief said: “These areas of collaboration, if well harnessed, will help the elected government to fulfill its mandate on job creation, take the youths off the streets, rid the society of thuggery and insecurity, as well as discourage them from societal vices.”