TheNewsGuru

Tag: Employment

  • Okowa calls for engagement of youths to check restiveness

    Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has called for spirited efforts to get youths engaged in order to check restiveness and criminality in the country.

    Governor Okowa made the call on Wednesday in Asaba when he received a team of World Bank, European Union and Federal Government officials.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the officials were in the state to assess the level of implementation of State Employment and Expenditure For Results (SEEFOR) projects in the state.

    The governor thanked the World Bank and said there were still very big gaps in the area of youths unemployment in the country.

    “We know that partnering with the private sector as a state, we would be able to find other means to attend to the gaps that are still existing in the area of youths unemployment because, once we are able to do that, we would be able to achieve and sustain the security and peace that we have in the state,” Okowa said.

    He disclosed that getting the youths engaged was in line with his administration’s commitment to making the youths job creators through the different youths employment and wealth creation programmes of his administration.

    “We are happy with the partnership between World Bank and the European Union, we are happy that the youth empowerment components is working in Delta State as over 700 youths have been trained and empowered through this partnership and they are on their own. We hope that this collaboration will continue to improve by the day,” the governor stated.

    While noting that his administration has spent a lot of money to ensure the empowerment of youths, Governor Okowa, said that the youths are also working hard to achieve results as “the price of hard work is to continue to work harder”.

    The team leader, Mr Brar Parminder had lauded Governor Okowa’s administration for ensuring that the SEEFOR projects are succeeding in the state, disclosing that they were impressed with the success stories of the SEEFOR programmes in the state.

     

  • EFCC arraigns Chinedu Mathew Nwobi over employment scam

    EFCC arraigns Chinedu Mathew Nwobi over employment scam

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday arraigned Mr. Chinedu Mathew Nwobi before Justice Dugbor-Oghoghorie of the Federal High Court, Enugu.

    TheNewsGuru reports EFCC arraigned Chinedu on a two- count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretence to the tune of N1,900, 000.00, contrary to section 8 (a),and 1(1)(c) and punishable under section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.

    Investigations carried out by the Commissions showed that the defendant, between 8th February, 2018 obtained the sum of N1,900,000 from the petitioner alleging that he is a staff of Nigeria Prison Service and that his colleague, Mr. Chinedu Mathew who works in the Arms Department of the Prison Service, Abuja, came to his duty post and told him that there were vacancies/slot from his uncle, Mr. Eze Ephraim who works in Interior Department Abuja.

    The petitioner further stated that Mr Eze further requested for additional N300,000, yet they couldn’t get the job. The petitioner lamented that efforts made to get back his money proved abortive.

    When the case was called up, prosecution counsel M.K Basil, applied that the charge be read to the defendant to which he pleaded not guilty. The defence counsel, J.E Orji made an oral application for the bail of the defendant which was refused by the Judge who ordered him to apply formally.

    He subsequently remanded the defendant in prison custody and the matter adjourned to February 10th, 2018 for trial and hearing of bail application.

     

  • 2,324 unemployed youths now employers of labour in Delta state – Gov. Okowa

    Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta has disclosed that the state government’s skills and vocational programmes of job creation have made 2,324 previously unemployed youths in the state employers of labour.

    He made the disclosure Wednesday in Asaba in his address at an exhibition held to showcase the products and services of youths and women in the state who are beneficiaries of the programme.

    Okowa said the wealth creation programme of his administration, the Skill Training and Entrepreneurship Programme, (STEP) and Youth Agriculture Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP) are designed to secure a better future for Deltans.

    “The job and wealth creation programme and activities of our government are designed to tackle the problem of unemployment in the state and measure the growth of micro, small and medium scale enterprises.

    “Globally, it is established that certain economic sectors and activities hold the highest potentials for job and wealth creation for our economy.

    “These are Agriculture, Agric businesses, Agro-based industries, cottage enterprises, vocational skills-based micro enterprises and small and medium scale enterprises.

    “Others are public works such as environment sanitation, housing and road construction,” he said.

    The governor noted that the state government spendings on these job creation sectors generates very high rate of returns for the economy.

    “Infact, interventions and programmes in these sectors and activities, are generally cost effective and go a long to reduce youth unemployment and poverty.

    “They also help in ensuring social inclusion, positive economic growth and sustainable development.”

    Okowa said his administration’s flagship Skill Training and Entrepreneurship Programme, (STEP) and Youth Agriculture Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP), Delta have achieved what many felt was unthinkable.

    According to him, after two cycles of the programme, a total of 2,324 previously unemployed youths of the state are now small business owners and employers of labour.

    The governor further stated that these young men and women who are beneficiaries of the programme, are trained and established in various enterprises, which include, ICT and Hairdressing.

    He listed other areas of their skill training to include, Decorations and Event Management, Make-Over, Catering and Confectionary Cosmetology, Craft and Home Care products.

    Others also include, Electrical Installations and Repairs, Fashion Design and Tailoring, Shoe Making, Welding and Fabrication etc.

    On the agricultural enterprises of the programme, Okowa listed Aqua Culture, Poultry, Crop Production, Agro Processing and Piggery as areas where the beneficiaries received training.

    Okowa said: “At least 450 of these small business owners have come here today to show Nigeria and the world what they have been able to do with their hands since they were set up by the state government.

    “For many of them, the journey began 15 months ago when they completed their training programme and were handed over their Starter Packs.

    “Some of them commenced their businesses for as short as six to nine months ago. Indeed, theirs is a remarkable story of industry, diligence and determination to succeed.”

    The governor said the state government would continue to provide support and guidance to the beneficiaries to enable them realise their goals and provide opportunity for many others.

    “Success for these beneficiaries and for us as a government did not come easy. What we are witnessing today is a reward of two years of rigorous planning.

    “Two years of discipline, focus, pace-setting selection process, stringent guidelines, prudent management and commitment to set goals,” Okowa said.

    TheNewsGuru reports that the exhibition was attended by former Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives and Governor of Sokoto state, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal and Ex-Governor of Delta, Chief James Ibori

    In a goodwill message, Governor Aminu Tambuwal lauded Okowa for his commitment to creating job and wealth for the people of the state through the STEP and YAGEP programmes of the his administration.

    He described the exhibition and success stories of the beneficiaries as a laudable achievement of the Okowa administration, and enjoined him to sustain the programme for the betterment of the people of the state.

    “I must commend Governor Okowa for his commitment towards creating wealth for the people of Delta through these laudable skills training and agricultural programmes.

    “I am very impressed with the success story of this programme, and maybe I will see how I can take lessons from here to my state,” Tambuwal said.

    In his remark, Ex-Delta governor, Chief James Ibori commended Governor Okowa for his foresight and commitment to helping the youths of the state through the skills training and agricultural programme.

    He said Governor Okowa has demonstrated his commitment and dedication to making the state a better place for all Deltans, and enjoined him to sustain the vision for a prosperous Delta.

    “The people of Delta elected you as their governor because of their belief in you to deliver good governance and today, we have come to see that you are delivering very well.

    “I want to commend you for remembering our unemployed youths with what we are witnessing here today because at the end of the day, when you and I are gone, they will be the ones to take over,” Ibori said.

    “Okowa is doing very well. May God continue to guide you and sharpen your vision as you have dedicated yourself to the service of our people,” Ibori said.

    Also in a remark, a representative of the World Bank, Dr. Tunde Adekola said the Delta STEP and YAGEP programme is a World Bank assisted programme aimed at assisting the state achieve its economic development programmes.

    “What we are witnessing today is a World Bank assisted programme. It is aimed at assisting the government of Delta achieve its economic developmental goals through wealth creation for its people.

    “The programme is a demonstration of the partnership collaborations between the World Bank and the Delta state government and I must say we are very proud of the successes so far recorded,” Adekola said.

    The exhibition featured various products and services by the beneficiaries of the STEP and YAGEP. Cultural dancers from across the state entertained the guests.

     

  • We will never make it in Nigeria until we take agriculture seriously – Obasanjo

    We will never make it in Nigeria until we take agriculture seriously – Obasanjo

    Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has said Nigeria cannot make it until the nation takes agriculture and its value chains seriously.

    He said this on Thursday at the Youth Enterprises Summit organised by the Youth Development Centre, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

    The former President said agriculture had the capacity to develop entrepreneurs and create millions of employment for Nigerian youths.

    Obasanjo, who described agriculture as his second career, noted that not many countries in the world had been successful without agriculture.

    The former President recalled that his administration created an enabling environment which opened doors of opportunities and made some Nigerians billionaires.

    He said, “The truth is this, if we are going to have employment for millions of youths in this country, it will be mainly in agriculture business not in oil and energy. Oil and energy will give you money; will make a few billionaires and multi-billionaires.

    “I opened the doors of opportunity and they took advantage of it, and I thank them for taking advantage of it.

    “All the billionaires we have today, they came out as a result of them taking advantage of those opportunities. And I am grateful to them that the opportunities that my administration created, they grabbed it and utilised it.”

    He added, “One thing is to create opportunity, another thing is to find people who will seize the opportunity and make what they have to make out of it.

    “But let’s take agriculture, we will never make it in this country until we take agriculture seriously. There are not many countries that have made it without taking agriculture seriously.”

    Obasanjo, who described himself as a successful farmer, urged youths to embrace agriculture and entrepreneurship.

    He said, “If Obasanjo can do it, why can’t you do it. There is entrepreneurship in you and you must develop it. And we will make you develop it.”

    Mr. Ayodele Aderinwa, who chaired the occasion, noted that the future looked scary with fear of poverty in view of the growing population of youths.

    Quoting statistics, he said, African youths population would hit 850 million by 2050, arguing that “the wealth creation via entrepreneurship is the way out to combat poverty.”

    A keynote speaker, Tope Shonubi, who spoke on the topic, ‘Youth and Entrepreneurship in Nigeria: Which way forward?’, submitted that Nigerian youths had entrepreneurship skills but lacked discipline.

    Shonubi urged the youths to be consistent, humble, confident and embrace entrepreneurship with a view to adding values to human lives.

    The event attracted youths from across the country.

  • Obaseki orders employment of 4,200 youths

    Obaseki orders employment of 4,200 youths

    In line with his promise to create at least 200,000 jobs within 4 years, the Governor of Edo state, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has ordered the employment of 4,200 youths across the state under the Edo state public works program from July 1st, this year.

    In a statement endorsed by the governor’s Chief of Staff, it was also revealed that Governor Obaseki had directed the engagement and training of 50 civil engineers to supervise the public works program and that the successful applicants were sourced from the database of unemployed youths developed by the government for the Edo Jobs initiative.

     

    According to the Chief of Staff, “The newly employed beneficiaries will work across the state on 45 inner roads selected under this special window. The governor also promised to engage another set of 4,200 in August 2017 under another window that will see the state government constructing and maintaining another set of 55 roads, culminating in almost 100 kilometers across the state.”

     

     

     

    He further enjoined the workers to be dedicated for the period of their engagement with the state government, as it would eventually amount to experience gathering and capacity building.

     

     

     

    Meanwhile, to complement jobs originating from road construction, the state government also finalized arrangements to train young electrical and electronic engineers under a special arrangement with Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC).

     

     

    The program, would build the capacity of young men and women on the practical side of electrical engineering in line with the ‘Electrify Edo project’, which kicked off with the signing of a power purchase agreement between the government and, at different times, Siemens AG and Ossiomo Power limited, a few months ago.

     

     

  • Internet a tool for economic transformation – Minister

    Internet a tool for economic transformation – Minister

    The Minister of Communication, Mr Adebayo Shittu, has described the Internet as a resourceful tool that could be employed to transform Nigeria’s education sector and contribute to economic transformation of the continent.

    FG renews MOU on affordable internet services
    Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu.

    Shittu stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Kigali on Friday.

    He was commenting on a report of a new study on internet released at the African Regional Internet and Development Dialogue in Kigali by the Internet Society.

    The minister, who commended the study, stressed that internet was not only the future of education but of other sectors such as commerce, transportation, health, governance among others.

    Shittu said Nigeria was putting in place mechanism to take its rightful place on the continent and world’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

    He said that the present administration had invested and still investing in the development of ICT and had also created favourable environment to attract investors to the sector.

    The study, which results were released in Kigali, showed that internet offers an opportunity for addressing the learning needs of diverse groups in Africa.

    This, it stated, included the bulk of learners that are currently out of school.

    The study titled: “Internet for Education in Africa,” stated that a blended learning environment that leverages internet could potentially help connect education to work and improve the skills that allow youths to access employment.

    “It could also help empower lifelong learners, and importantly, support women, girls and disabled people to participate in learning without space, time and other cultural and social barriers.”

    It described blended learning as an education system that combines online digital media with traditional classroom methods.

    “The participation in the global economy is now dependent on 21st century skills, which includes the ability to navigate in the digital world.

    ‘‘Progress in countries like India, China and South Korea shows that connectivity serves as a foundation for access to information economy jobs and advancing innovations,” it stated.

    The study shows that in Africa, using internet for learning is a real possibility.

    It added that more than a quarter of the African population (334 million) has access to internet, the majority of which are young people.

    According to the study, there are 147 million Facebook users in Africa as of June 2016.

    It, however, noted that such access to internet and use of social media had not been harnessed systematically to advance education and learning at individual and institutional levels.

    The study said there was hope that internet and ICT can transform the education landscape in Africa, but that there are still challenges blocking internet use in education in Africa.

    These, it stated, included limited literacy and skills that are needed to participate in the Internet economy and lack of infrastructure to host and exchange locally available content.

    Others, it stated, are inadequate supportive infrastructure such as electricity, and high taxes on ICT hardware and software, among others.

    Dr Lishan Adam, one of the lead researchers behind the study, said it was also part of reviewing the position of Africa in global education commitments.

    “As internet is growing, educational challenges are advancing and normally the two are not supposed to be intersecting.

    ‘‘What we are trying to do is to look at where we are in terms of providing access to quality education, which is in line with the global education commitments under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    ‘‘The education targets of the SDGs, among others aim to ensure universal pre-primary, primary and secondary education, achieve gender equity among learners, ensure disabled learners attain equal education, and foster youth employability,” he said.

    To achieve this, Adam stated that improved connectivity in the region and the vast learning resources that are available over the internet are useful.

    According to him, while access to mobile broadband has increased in urban areas, last-mile connectivity remains a challenge.

    ‘‘With about half of the population more than 25kilometres from the nearest fiber connection, broadband connection in rural areas remains very low.

    ‘‘With over 70 per cent of the population living in rural areas, the majority who need internet the most, such as rural schools, do not have it,” he said.

  • Nigerian Senate envisages 7.55 million additional employments

    Nigerian Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has said Nigeria is set to benefit from additional 7.55 million employments in the coming years.

    The Senate President made this revelation in his speech addressing the Senate on resumption of duties in Abuja today.

    TheNewsGuru Senate House correspondence quotes the Senate President Saraki as saying that new National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER) research findings reveal that economic reform bills, dubbed Priority Bills, will have an output impact equivalent to an average of 6.87% of GDP over a 5-year period on the economy.

    “The average annual growth in jobs is estimated at approximately 7.55 million additional employments as well as an average of 16.42% reduction in Nigeria’s poverty rate,” Saraki said, adding that over the projected 5-year period the Priority Bills would engender the addition of an average N3.76 Trillion to National incomes.

    “National Disposable Income was N85.62 trillion in 2014, equivalent to 4.39% of 2014 figures,” said Saraki.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki said that the NASSBER statistics make the delivery of the Priority Bills imperative and that the statistics confirm evidently that the Senate has gotten priorities right so far.

    “It is hoped that as we begin to turn our focus now towards the passage of the 2017 budget, these bills will be implemented simultaneously with the budget to enable us exit the recession quickly,” Saraki said.

  • FEC approves N4.6bn for new fire equipment, employment of fire fighters

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N4.6 billion for the purchase of new fire-fighting equipment to contain fire incidents in the country.

    The Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau, gave the indication at a joint State House Media briefing with the Aviation Minister, Alhaji Hadi Sirika.

    Danbazau said there was an appropriation of about N5.2 billion for the purchase in the 2016 budget but the figure dropped after a no objection approval by the Bureau of Public Enterprises.

    “Today’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the procurement of some fire-fighting equipment.

    “The last time equipment were procured was sometime in 1996.

    “The equipment in the inventory today were those procured between 1985 and 1996, and since then there was no procurement.

    “On assumption of duty I went round their stations and I discovered surprisingly the dearth of fire-fighting equipment.

    “And with the experiences in fire incidences all over the country we discovered that such a situation should no longer hold and therefore we reflected that in the 2016 budget with the aim of equipping the fire service and also improve its capacity.

    “So (it is for) both equipment and training and of course the welfare of the personnel.

    “This approved procurement is going to go a long way to provide the service with the necessary equipment even though this is just a start.

    “We also, hoping that the 2017 budget will avail us with the opportunity to procure more equipment for the Federal Fire Service.’’

    Danbazau also said that the ministry was making some effort to improve on the existing facilities at the Fire Training School.

    He said that the ministry intended to partner an entity involved in training of fire fighters, particularly in the oil and gas sector, to train the nation’s fire fighters and improve their capacity to carry out their services.

    The minister said that since the various states possessed their separate fire services and had suffered fire incidents, the federal government would partner them on fire fighting.

    Danbazau mentioned Kano, Lagos and Kebbi as states that suffered recent fire incidents, adding that the national council on fire service in Kano last month agreed to standardise fire service delivery all over the country.

    He said that the meeting criticised the operation of several standards operated by each state and accepted to change the trend.

    “We are moving ahead towards that and also be able to ensure that the necessary fire codes are observed by everybody,’’ he said.

    The minister also hinted that NEC discussed the need to have an inter-ministerial meeting to consult with various ministries and states in order to ensure that prevention measures were carried out.

    He said it was important that every building observed the building codes by having fire equipment, such as fire hydrants, for preventive measures.

    “These are some of the very measures that we intent to take in the very near future to ensure that we reduce the losses and also prevent fires from happening,’’ he added.

    He said that stakeholders meeting would be held with experts to enforce building codes in the country to secure the buildings and ensure that they generate their revenues for the government.

    On the strengthening of the country’s fire-fighting workforce with young professionals, the minister said that all agencies under the ministry had been directed to prepare for recruitment in 2017.

    “It is not just the fire service, but all the services under the ministry of interior have been directed to prepare for recruitment into the services this 2017 budget.

    “This directive has been given to them couple of months back because of the realisation that they need the manpower and particularly fire service which needs a lot of energy to be able to tackle some of its challenges.

    “So there is no doubt that we are going to carry out some recruitment exercises.

    “But that is not to say that even the older ones who have not reached retirement age are not of any use.

    “They are very useful; we need them to share their experiences with the younger ones.

    “I terms of capacity building certainly we cannot do away with them.

    “So there is absolutely no doubt that we are going to carry out some recruitment exercises for all the services and we want to make the fire service attractive,’’ said the minister.