Speaker of Ekiti House of Assembly, Mr Stephen Aribasoye, has urged students, youths and school leavers to acquire additional skills in order to become job creators rather than job seekers.
Aribasoye stated this on Thursday in Ado-Ekiti while receiving officials of National Directorate of Employment (NDE), led by the State Coordinator, Mr Hakeem Sanusi.
He identified skills acquisition as an antidote to unemployment and poverty and as well as a means to positively contribute to the economy of the grassroots.
Aribasoye said that the assembly would partner with NDE in taking many indigent citizens in all the 23 state constituencies out of unemployment.
He said that the assembly would also offer the best platform to reach out to people at the grassroots to tackle unemployment.
Noting that white-collar jobs were no longer available, given the current economic realities, Aribasoye urged youths to empower themselves with needed skills in order to be relevant and create jobs for themselves and others.
He noted that job creation was a key component of the six-point agenda of the Gov. Biodun Oyebanji-led administration for poverty reduction and economic empowerment for citizens of the state.
“Beyond certificates, there is the need for our people, especially the youth, to acquire skills which will aid self-employment.
“One of the biggest challenges in present day Nigeria is unemployment, which is at an alarming rate, while white-collar jobs are no longer there.
“It is one thing to get people trained, it is another to get them empowered. The result is in the number of people who are self-sufficient after the training. You need feedback mechanism to know how to measure success.
“The assembly will collaborate with you. We are representing the whole state and if you want to do anything, you need to run it through the house.
“We represent the people at the grassroots and you have taken the right step in coming to the right place,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the NDE state coordinator said that the agency was established by law to drive the Federal Government’s employment and job creation initiatives in its bid to boost the productivity of Nigerians.
Sanusi said that NDE has reached out to no fewer than 50,000 people in the state by training them on various vocational skills to make them stand on their own.
He added that the directorate was looking at collaborating with the assembly to facilitate training and empowerment of the vulnerable people, women and artisans in the areas of agribusiness, entrepreneurship development training and special programs.
“These areas of collaboration, if well harnessed, will help government to fulfill its mandate on job creation, take the youth off the streets, rid the society of thuggery and insecurity and discourage them from engaging in social vices,” Sanusi said.
Joining the speaker to welcome the NDE team were the Majority Leader, Mr Tolu Ige; Chief Whip, Mrs Bose Olowookere and Deputy Chief Whip, Mrs Maryam Ogunlade.
Others were: Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Mr Adeteju Okuyiga; Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Mr Lateef Akanle and Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Babatunde Oke.
