By Saidu Idris
365Daily – 47,000 youths have so far applied for the Work Experience Programme (WEP) of the Federal government which is aimed at bridging the gap in practical work skills against unemployment.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Sunday Dare.
Speaking at a virtual meeting with a civil society organisation, Connected Development (CODE), the Minister explained that youths applied for WEP through the ministry’s website and some social media platforms.
He explained applied tools that youths could easily use to deliver programmes to them, adding: “The ministry alone cannot deal with the issues confronting our youths, ranging from training, employment, support, entrepreneurship, grants, to soft loans.
“That is why other stakeholders like the Humanitarian Affairs and industry ministries and about eight other sectors are complimenting government’s efforts by working to ensure that youths are catered for.
“When we came in, we saw that most of our programmmes are done through analogue. Forms are printed and circulated; I found that very limiting because that means if you are not close to Abuja or somebody in government, you can never get that form.
“So when we realised that a large number of our youths are online, we decided to start recruiting for our programmes through the online platforms.’’
Dare further disclosed that the ministry got funding under the Economic Sustainability Plan to improve the digital knowledge of youths leading to the trading of about 4,000 plus youths across the country.
He added: “We will be finishing shortly, and we will begin other trainings to enable us reach the target of 200,000 youths with requisite skills,’’ he said.
Dare said the first batch of disbursement from the N75 billion National Youth Investment Fund had been concluded, and hopefully the second batch will begin by September.
Commenting on the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), he said he had succeeded in aligning its leadership factions from the five presidents he met when he assumed duties as the Youths Minister to only one presently.
In addition, Dare informed that the Federal Government was working to steer NYCN away from partisanship and return it to its “status of a conveyor belt to help deliver government’s youth-focused policies”.
He said that the ministry is planning the first ever national youth conference that would draw 10 participant from every state, an assemblage of about 370 Nigerian youths.
“This is to enable participants brainstorm on six thematic areas, including youths and governance, youth and peace and security, youth and ICT, and youth in entrepreneurship,” he stated.