#AbiaOnline
by Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu
It is heartening at last that the training over of 36,000 registered participants of the Education for Employment (E4E) programme of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu administration commenced recently at the E-library Complex Umuahia.
The participants are expected to be trained in various skill areas. On the other hand, the programme is expected to locate jobs for those wishing to go into paid employment as well offer start up materials for those wishing to stand alone as well as offer monthly stipends to the trainees. The training will cover a four- month period for for each stream and is taking place simultaneously at 13 locations across the 17 local government areas of the state.
E4E, as the programme is fondly called, is another initiative of the government which possesses every potential to change tthe narrative of youth employment in the state.The programme is conceptualized around creating employment.
Also, the E4E concept is to ensure that education leads to employment by imbuing the youths with the technical skills that would enable them become either self-employed or sought after by others.The Programme is to boost the current efforts of the state to be elevated to a Small and Medium Scale Entrepresises(SME) capital of the country where all kinds of equipment and devices will be imported to boost shoes and garments production.
Another essence of the programme is to launch Abia to technical education.The Programme would be replicated in primary schools across the produce primary school pupils that are ready and prepared to go into technical education and eventually end up servicing the technical needs of Abia people.The Programme is designed to be replicated in primary schools across the state, and for primary school pupils that are ready and prepared to go into technical education and eventually end up servicing the technical needs of Abia people.
Indeed, the E4E programme is apt in the face of the acute unemployment problems bedeviling the state for sometime now. It is projected that over six million youths in Nigeria are unemployed and the current economic recession makes the situation more complex as more Nigerians are losing their jobs daily.
A popular Chinese proverb says” Teach me how to fish rather than giving me fish (handout)”. The wisdom behind this proverb is that teaching a person how to fish is sustainable than giving him fish.In Abia, the administration of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has adopted the Chinese model in empowering the youths of the state by teaching them how to fish rather than giving them fish (handout) and deserves a resounding applause.
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