The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has presented working equipment worth millions of naira to successful trainees of the School on Wheel (SOW) in Imo State.
Presenting the equipment which included sewing machines, barbing tools, tilling equipment, hairdressing machines and cash, among others to the trainees, the director-general of NDE, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, said that the essence of the programme is to empower the participants in the skill training to be gainfully employed in life.
Fipko, represented at the event by the Imo State coordinator of NDE, Mrs Chisara Winifred Egwim-Chima, said that the office formulated the programmes to empower unemployed Nigerians.
He said that it took the NDE office sleepless nights to come up with such ideas and programmes for the approval of the presidency and National Assembly for Nigerians to benefit.
He said the main target for which the programme was mounted is to create jobs and provide succour for the teeming unemployed youths.
Describing the School On Wheel (SOW) as a kind of mobile training scheme especially for people in rural areas, Fikpo said that the only way for the participants to pay back or appreciate the empowerment extended to them is to work hard.
He said that NDE had taken further steps to provide the participants with the equipment to enable them start their trades, but he warned them not to run away with the money and equipment.
The NDE boss noted with dismay that some of the participants when given money ended up squandering it instead of putting it into effective use.
In his speech, the Director of Vocational Skills Development Department (VSD), Mr Isah Abdu, charged the participants to put into good use the equivalent to empower themselves and others.
The director, represented by Oluchi Lisa Onyedinefu, reminded the beneficiaries that the equipment, if properly managed, would enable them meet their financial needs in life as well as the needs of others.
The Head, Loans and Coordination of NDE, Mrs Ngozi Nwamkpa, spoke on the essence of the programme, which she said is to enable the beneficiaries to be established in life.
According to her, the interest loan being provided to them by NDE, would assist them largely to begin a new trade while assuring that the office would on their own continue to evaluate them to know how well they are doing.
Responding, one of the trainees on hairdressing, Ogechukwu Omeji, expressed his appreciation to NDE for choosing them and providing them with the opportunity.
He assured that he would put to good use the equipment provided for him and to do his best to promote the programme.
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