The Ondo State Government has said it will empower no fewer than 150,000 unemployed youths in the state through a newly established agency, the Ondo State Office of Innovation and Partnerships in collaboration with a German firm, the German Development Corporation.

According to the state government, the empowerment programme will be implemented for over a period of 18 months and will include employability engagements, involving the unemployed in Small and Medium Enterprises for paid interships as well as other full time job opportunities.

The state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, stated this at the opening of a two-day training programme for 200 unemployed youths in Akure, the state capital on Tuesday. The training was organised by the government agency in collaboration with the German firm.

Represented by his Senior Special Assistant on Innovation and Partnerships, Mr Joel Ogunsola, the governor explained that the innovation office would promote entrepreneurship, enterprise development and economic growth through innovations, urging the youths to follow up on other partnerships programmes of the office for more opportunities.


He said, “Our newly established Office of Innovation and Partnerships is directly responsible for empowering young people, we are working to engage up to 150,000 people within 18 months. The objective is basically to take them through different career advisory options, help them understand what the opportunities are within the Nigerian ecosystem, and specifically train them on basic digital and technological skills.

“Beyond training, the partnership is to particularly fix them with jobs. We have gotten commitments from some agencies of government and SMEs that had already keyed into the project. We are indeed grateful to GIZ for the commitment to pay the cost of the internships.”

Addressing the participants, the National Coordinator for the Nigerian-German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration, Mrs Elizabeth Olayinka-Adekunle, said the partnership was to empower Nigerians with skills that could make them self-reliant, by introducing them to entrepreneurial thinking, emerging opportunities within the Nigerian economic space, and job placement training to mention a few.

Source: https://punchng.com/ondo-german-firm-to-empower-150000-youths/

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