NDE dolls out N85m loans to EBTS beneficiaries
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has granted loans worth over Eighty Five Million (85M) naira to her graduated trainees under the Environmental Beautification Training Scheme (EBTS).
The loan facilities which consist of basic working tools and cash components were to be disbursed to the Four Hundred and Ninety Four (494) beneficiaries in the six geo-political zones across the country. The loan disbursement is being executed under the Special Public Works (SPW) Programme of the NDE.
The Directorate in November 2022 had concluded three (3) months EBTS skills training for One Thousand One Hundred and Ten (1,110) unemployed youths in thirty Six (36) States and the FCT Abuja at 30 participants per state.
According to a statement by NDE head of information and public relations, Israel Adekitan, the Director General, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo said the Directorate is proposing to empower 962 graduated trainees out of the 1,110 participants but could only resettle only 494 due to budgetary constraints. He said the other 470 graduated trainees will be empowered at future date.
The basic objective of the loan disbursement exercise, according to him, is to create jobs especially self-employment for the trained participants and help them become self-reliant.
“The mandate of the Directorate is to fight mass unemployment in the country by creating jobs through skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development. NDE will not stop at training willing Nigerians but will also ensure that the trained participants are well established and are out of the unemployment market”.
He added that the EBTS loan disbursement exercise will create pool of entrepreneurs that will soon become employers of labour in Nigeria.
Also speaking, the Director for the Special Public Works Programme, Mrs. Olaomi Roseline Silvia, said the loan disbursement exercise will cover Nineteen states from the six geo-political zones of Nigeria namely; Adamawa, Borno, Taraba, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Lagos, Osun, Oyo, Kwara, Niger, Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Kebbi. She said Twenty Six (26) people per state are to benefit from the phase one empowerment exercise using the 50% budget released.
Environmental Beautification Training Scheme (EBTS) is one of the popular schemes of the Special Public Works Programme of the NDE. It is designed to train unemployed persons to acquire professional skills in Environmental Beautification, Sanitation and Protection of Environment.
The concept also includes beautification of Streets, construction of parks, and gardens, tree planting, production of blocks, interlocking stones, tiling works and Plaster of Paris (POP).
One of the beneficiaries from Ilorin Kwara state, Abubakar Umar, said the loan disbursement initiative of the NDE is bringing a great relief to him and his family, especially his father, who has been so concerned over how to raise capital to start his POP business.
