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Providing Employment Through Skill Acquisition

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By Babatunde Adegunju

Until adequate skill acquisition programmes for youths complement the Federal Government’s efforts in the area of employment generation, there may not be an end to the high unemployment rate among the youths in Nigeria, which has led them to engage in all kinds of nefarious acts such as kidnapping, terrorism, armed robbery, prostitution and other violent crimes.

Empowering youths is often seen as a gateway to inter-generational equity, civic engagement and democracy building. Many local, state, provincial, regional, national, and international government agencies and nonprofit community-based organizations provide programmes centered on youth empowerment. Elected public office holders should urgently key into this area of employment generation to defuse the ticking unemployment time bomb in our nation.

Youth empowerment activities largely focus on what the youth in a particular region are interested in or have flair for. Having this at the back of his mind, the lawmaker representing Lagos East Senatorial district, Senator Gbenga Ashafa embarked on series of programmes for the youths of his constituency. One of such programmes which has become a household name in Lagos State and beyond is the Youth Energy Career Programme (YECP), which was executed in collaboration with Lagos State Electricity Board and Siemens.

Back then in April 2012, when the YECP was flagged off as the first of its kind in Nigeria for the first 15 participants across the senatorial district, the lawmaker stressed the rationale behind the programme. According to him, “it is a known fact that one of the major challenges facing our country in its journey towards sustainable development and meaningful growth, is inadequate power supply. This challenge has become a hydra-headed monster drawing us many steps backward despite every attempt to take a step forward. We have, for a long time been indecisive on this issue that other nations almost consider us not being serious as a people. Should we then continue to fold our arms and look-on while events in the global village run by? I think not! Critical among factors often pointed to, as the bane of efficiency in our electricity generation phase is the dearth of expertise. With this, the ‘local content policy’ of the Federal Government has not been allowed to blossom in the power sector.”

Ashafa, an apostle of youth empowerment stated further: “in recognition of this all important factor, the Lagos State Government through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and its implementation agency- Lagos State Electricity Board, in Partnership with my humble self and Siemens Power Academy; have developed the Youth Energy Career Programme.”

It is pertinent therefore to state here that the first phase which ended last year October was a success, and it will be interesting to also state here that all the 15 graduates have been engaged in one way or the other. Among them are Miss Dolapo Popoola. She is now a staff of Lagos State Electricity Board; Mr Adekolapo Adeside, working with Ecosolar International company; Mrs Funmilayo Richard, working with Estymol Oil (OANDO); Mr Gbolagade Kazeem, now with Lagos State Electricity Board; Mr Adetola Adeniyi, now with Estymol Oil (OANDO) and Mr Adenuga Moshood who has been employed by the General Electric (GE), an international power company based in the United States of America among others. The lawmaker also added that the second phase of the programme will soon commence due to its wide acceptability.

Besides the YECP, Senator Gbenga Ashafa has also initiated another laudable youth empowerment programme for graduate youths that are interested in Professional Technical and Vocational Training, tagged “Youth Technical and Vocational Training”. This was borne out of the promise to deepen capacity building and encourage skill acquisition in Lagos East Senatorial District.

The 6 month training programme which is in collaboration with the Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB) is aimed at preparing participants for a life long learning and participation in the skilled workforce.

This in turn facilitates poverty alleviation and integrates the youth into the labour market with competitive technical skills to be their own bosses and not to rely on white-collar jobs that are seriously shrinking because of the huge rate of unemployment in the country.

While speaking on the initiative recently at his constituency office in Ikosi-Ketu, the energetic lawmaker stated that it is high time the country focused on technical and vocational skills in order to curb the menace of unemployment in the country and “one of the best ways to do this is to encourage skill acquisition programmes for our youths. The level of unemployment in the country is really frightening. The number of CVs graduates submit on daily basis at my constituency office for the purpose of employment is really alarming. I believe if most youths can engage themselves in skill acquisition programmes, it will really serve as a better option to curbing the problem of unemployment in the country. That is why am partnering with the Lagos state Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB) to encourage our youths in building their skills in their area of interest.”

According to the lawmaker, the programme is aimed to instil in the youths the necessary skills needed to compete with their counterparts across the globe. He says there are several buildings built today in Nigeria that most of the workers there are expatriates, many builders do not believe in Nigerian engineers anymore. This and more are the impressions we are meant to correct in order to make Nigeria a better place.

Among the courses that are meant to be taught during the six month training include: plumbing and pipe fitting, block laying and concreting, electrical installation works and maintenance, painting and decorating and carpentry etc.

•Adegunju wrote from Ketu, Lagos.

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

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Nigeria News

Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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Nigeria News

COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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