From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The federal government has revealed that it has concluded arrangements to equip vulnerable persons in the 95 Local Government Areas (LGAs) constituting the South-East region with vocational skills and other empowerment initiatives in line with its determination to reduce youth unemployment in the zone.
The South-East Support for N-Power and Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs (SESNAM), an indigenous support group, made the disclosure in a statement issued by its National Coordinator, Kamsi Uzodinma.
The support group maintained that the move is in furtherance of the ongoing social investment programmes (SIPs) spearheaded by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
According to SESNAM, the investment programmes will be in the areas of vocational skills (tailoring, carpentry, shoemaking, trading, etc), aquaculture and healthcare.
The support group further explained that the social interventions, approved by the federal government, are part of measures to assure the South-East remained an integral part of the Nigerian federation, which is founded on equity, justice and egalitarianism.
‘We use this medium to assure Ndigbo – both home and in the diaspora – that the federal government is interested in the development of the South-East, as in other zones of the country,’ the statement read.
‘As a support group, SESNAM is undertaking awareness campaigns throughout the length and breadth of the South East, aimed at calling out beneficiaries of N-Power and other SIPs in the zone, to come out and tell the stories of their turn-around.
‘Apart from the tens of thousands of the beneficiaries, we are also sensitising our youths and women on how to apply to be beneficiaries of the N-Power Batch C, which was recently laid out by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq, in Abuja.
‘In fact, beneficiaries of N-Power and other intervention programmes have been coming out to tell their stories of breakthrough to the public, which has continued to change hitherto-erroneous narratives.
‘Many of the beneficiaries have gone ahead to establish businesses, which have made them employers of labour, as seen in the number of youths they currently have in their employ.
‘The ministry has continued to alleviate poverty across the country, through such programmes as N-Power, Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), School Feeding programme among others.’