• A non-profit organization that promotes peace and equitable economic growth in the Niger Delta has trained 1,000 young people in the region
• The project provides vocational training and retraining for young school leavers, as well as soft skills to reshape attitude and behavior
• A total of 2,033 of the successful participants were connected to immediate salaried employment or supported to start their own innovative business

Niger Delta – The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) has awarded over N104 million in grants to 12 implementing partners to train 1,000 young people from the Niger Delta region in various technical and vocational skills for at least six months, starting in May 2022.

Tunji Idowu, the Executive Director of PIND revealed this during a Grant Signing Ceremony for the PIND Niger Delta Youth Employment Pathways (NDYEP) Scale Up Project held on Thursday, March 24.

NDYEP was designed in 2018 to develop youth training models in which marginalized youth are trained in market-relevant skills and then supported in sustainable jobs or businesses.

The pilot project was sponsored by the Ford Foundation. Between 2018 and 2021, 4,355 young people were trained and equipped with in-demand professional skills in four growing sectors (ICT, building construction, agriculture and finished leather).

During the signing ceremony which was also to welcome the 12 implementing partners involved in scaling up the project in Abia, Akwa Ibom and Rivers State, the Executive Director of PIND commended the partners for implementation whose efforts, he noted, led to the success of the project.

He said:

“I would like to thank our implementing partners whose performance during the pilot phase led to its success.”

He urged them to improve their service delivery in the scale-up phase to ensure that young participants make early transitions into employment and entrepreneurship after vocational training.

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He also explained that PIND’s decision to extend the project to the original pilot states was based on the fact that there was still a need for it due to the lack of a feasible economic environment that opened doors. to wage income.

Idowu also called on Niger Delta state governments to complement PIND efforts by adopting the NDYEP model and further developing it to meet the needs of youth in their states.

He added:

“While much is still expected of Niger Delta state governments, models such as the NDYEP will continue to present clear examples of replication.”

50 young entrepreneurs from the Niger Delta trained in the renewable energy program

Recall that 50 aspiring entrepreneurs in three states of the Niger Delta region recently received training on the business relations program designed to improve service delivery, profitability and business management skills.

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The training, in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states, was a mentorship and capacity building program that is expected to involve 50 renewable energy retailers.

The move is part of efforts to bridge the unemployment gap in the Niger Delta region.

FG and UN agencies train MSMEs to manufacture health products

In a related development, Nigerian women who run small businesses are now being trained to manufacture healthcare-related products.

The UN Basket fund-funded project is one of the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria and will be held until the end of March 2022 in different locations (Abuja, Lagos and Enugu).

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the four-week capacity-building workshop on Monday, February 28 in Abuja, Patience Ekeoba, Country Program Manager for UN Women Nigeria, noted that the COVID-19 crisis has affected investment, growth and employment in Nigeria.

Source: Legit.ng