Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
National Directorate of Employment (NDE), at the weekend, said it has engaged 50 graduates in Edo State for its empowerment initiative known as Graduates Attachment Programme (GAP).
The NDE Director General, Nasiru Argungu, said this during a orientation/sensitisation training for the unemployed graduates in Benin.
Argungu was represented by NDE state Coordinator, Ayo Edegbai
According to him, the NDE initiated the three months’ programme to reduce the rate of unemployment among the graduates.
“These graduates would be paid a monthly stipend of N15,000 by NDE, this is in addition to what the organisation to which they are posted could offer as their contribution to national youth development and mankind.
“It is expected that the organisations absorb the graduates afterwards,” he said
Argungu said the programme was designed for a three or six months, depending on the the NDE’s financial standing.
The director general said the programme would provide the participants an enduring working experience, as they would be posted across the state.
He said under the nationwide programme, 50 graduates were recruited and would be attached to various government and private companies in the state.
“Graduates will be attached to companies for a period of three months, it is an opportunity to inculcate good enterprise quality in them before being employed.
“It is also a way to bridge the gap between the periods students graduated and the period they waited before securing a job.
“It will also create opportunities that may lead the participants to reality of modern technologies in market towards national self-reliance,” he said.
He, however, disclosed that 600 unemployed graduates have benefitted from GAP since its inception in 2004 in the state.
He tasked the beneficiaries to derive maximum benefits from the programme and build their capacities.