500 youths across the 33 local government areas will be engaged under the Oyo State Youth Development and Empowerment Initiative.
The state Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Hon. Wasilat Adegoke disclosed this during the media briefing held at the Governor’s Office in Ibadan on Tuesday.
The Commissioner, who disclosed that the initiative is in line with the Governor Seyi Makinde’s Omi Tuntun 2.0 Sustainable Agenda of the state Ministry of Youth and Sports, is targeting at boosting the employability of the selected youths in the state.
“I thank God today we are implementing a mega youth empowerment programme where 15 youths would be picked from all the 33 local Government areas to be trained on the arts of writing business proposal/tips for successful interview to boost their employability,
entrepreneurship and skill acquisition,
financial/business management and sustenance, leadership skills and mentorship among others.”
While commending Governor Seyi Makinde for his approval, Hon. Adegoke corrected the notion that the Ministry is putting too much concentration on sporting activities thereby neglecting the youth development aspect.
The Commissioner for Youth and Sports disclosed that the camp for the training for the successful applicants will be held at each of five zones in the state. She affirmed that NYSC Camp Iseyin will host the applicants from Oke-Ogun zone.
Shedding more light on the programme, Director of Youth Development, Mrs. Kudirat Mustapha, disclosed that the programme is targeted at youth between the age of 22 and 35 years.
The Director said further that the registration for the programme is going to be online and years of graduation of the participants is going to be among the criteria for the selection.
Mrs. Mustapha charged the interested applicants to be truthful while filling the questionnaire online, emphasizing that there is going to be physical interaction at the Ministry to correspond with the information generated online.
She noted that the Ministry has put every machinery in motion to ensure successful exercise by putting a mentorship and monitoring team in place to guide the successful applicants in their choice of business for six months.
“The programme is strictly for the graduates being a first phase, the subsequent ones will include the non-graduates. The training aspect is going to be handled by the consultant, who will be bringing his team of experts to the zones where the applicants will be trained. There is going to be a mentor for each sector for proper monitoring and evaluation for six months.”
Mr. Jasper Ezenwaka, who is the consultant for the initiative, said that the programme will address the issue of ‘japa’ syndrome particularly among the youths in the state and changing their mentality about business.
He commended that state governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde for deeming it fit to empower 500 graduates to address the challenge of youth unemployment, noting that the programme is carefully designed to meet the need of the youth in the state.
He said that the multiplier effect of the initiative will be felt in the next one or two years because the beneficiaries will also be able to take two or three people off the streets.
Mr. Ezenwaka reiterated the initiative will expose the participants to the new business ideas and business managing skills during the training exercise.
He appealed to the potential participants to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the state governor by making judicious use of it to open the same door of opportunity to others.
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