NDE distributes tools, cash to youths in Taraba

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has distributed starter packs and cash to 11 Taraba youths trained under the Environmental Beautification Training Scheme (EBTS) in the state.

The state Coordinator of NDE, Alhaji Aderemi Adebisi, who distributed the items at a ceremony in Jalingo, the state capital, said the 11 beneficiaries were selected out of 50 youths that were trained in 2018.

He said the scheme*involved the training of recruited participants in the areas of Soft and Hard Landscaping and Beautification of the Environment as well as Horticulture and Building.

Alhaji Aderemi explained that NDE had, during the training, attached participants to master trainers for a period of three months to acquire skills in different compartments of technical trades.

He explained that five of the 11 beneficiaries were trained in POP, three in Soft Landscaping and three in Hard Landscaping. Apart from the working tools, those trained in Soft Landscaping (flowers) were given N35,500 each; those trained in POP received N60,500 each, while those trained in the Hard Landscaping (Roman pillars) got N25,000 each.

The coordinator*further revealed that the directorate expended a total of N1.2 million on the programme.

In his address the Director General of NDE, Dr. Nasiru Argungu, represented by Adebisi, said the money given to the beneficiaries was a repayable loan.

“There is no free lunch anywhere; they will have to work at a profit and pay back gradually,” he noted.

Argungu noted that the programme was aimed at taking youths off the streets to prevent them from engaging in criminal activities.

He disclosed that the NDE had, so far, given requisite tools and cash to about 416 graduates of EBTS across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to start and grow their businesses.

“It is the resolve of the directorate that idle hands be removed from the streets and more jobs created for beneficiaries to employ more people in their businesses and be able to feed themselves and their families.

“In doing so, we are boosting job creation and spurring the youth to contribute their quota to the national economy,” he said.