The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) on Monday began training 100 unemployed youths in Adamawa on sustainable agriculture to enable them to become self-employed.
Speaking at the opening ceremony in Yola, Malam Abubakar Fikpo, the NDE Acting Director General, said that the training would be on crops production, fish and poultry farming.
Fikpo, who was represented by the State Director, Faisal Ibrahim, said the training was in two phases – theory and practice – and would last for three months.
He charged the participants to pay attention to the exercise for them to succeed in future as white collar jobs were no longer available.
“I am pleased to inform you that the directorate is currently training a sizable number of beneficiaries in skills acquisition.
“It has disbursed soft loans to some of the trained beneficiaries who have successfully owned their businesses on sustainable agriculture,’’ he said.
In his remarks, Mr Idriss Bello, Commandant, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), commended NDE for initiating such training for the youths to be productive in the country.
Bello, who was represented by Mr Muktar Mohammed, charged the youths to shun drug abuse and take the advantage of the training to help themselves, families and friends.
He said abuse of drugs had a negative impact on their health and society and had resulted in a high rate of crime, including kidnapping, robbery and banditry.
The Head of Department, Special Public Works, NDE, Mr Miwa Lasko, called on the participants to count themselves among the privileged by being beneficiaries.
He urged them to pay attention to the theoretical aspect of the training for more success in the practical aspect.
Abdulrasheed Jidda, who spoke on behalf of the participants, thanked NDE for the opportunity and promised to fully participate in the training aimed at making them self-reliant.