Malam Hassan Mustapha, the acting Zonal Director, North-West, National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has reiterated the directorate’s commitment to empower more youths.
According to him, the aim is to reduce unemployment in the zone.
Hassan, who was recently deployed to head the North-West zonal office, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Kaduna.
“The mandate of the NDE is to train unemployed persons to empower them and make sure they are self-reliant and contribute to the economic development of their states.
“We will organise meetings for states under the North-West zone to see areas that will ensure that most of the youth are engaged so that they would be self-employed and stand strong in the society,’’ he said.
He explained that the directorate had recently conducted an orientation programme for Basic National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (B-NOAS) and Advanced Open Apprenticeship Scheme (A-NOAS) across the states in the zone.
According to Hassan, 460 persons in Kaduna are undergoing training under B-NOAS on skills such as catering, metal fabrication, and fashion design among others.
He said another 230 persons who had graduated from B-NOAS were undergoing advanced training under the A-NOAS to perfect their skills and subsequently start up their businesses.
He urged stakeholders like the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), philanthropists and international donors to collaborate with the NDE in empowering youths and supporting them with startup capital. (NAN)
