FG to Spend N2 Billion On Graduate Internship Scheme
As part of government efforts to fight unemployment among educated Nigerian youths, the Federal government is to spend a huge sum of N2 billion on the Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) before December 31st.
The Project Director of the
Scheme, Mr. Dennis Chukwu, disclosed this in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital
during a Career Development and Entrepreneurship Skills Training for Interns
recently.
Chukwu revealed that the
scheme, being funded by the Federal Ministry of Finance, is currently training
about 2,000 graduate interns across the country on skills and career
development that would make them employers of labour, rather than job seekers.
He added that President
Muhammadu Buhari's government decided to sustain the scheme initiated by the
immediate past government owing to his desire to banish unemployment ravaging
the potential of Nigerian graduates by exposing them to trainings and opportunities
in every sector of the economy.
Chukwu said the scheme had excited 35,000 interns,
with thousands of them securing jobs in the civil service and in the business
sector and contributing immensely to the growth of the economy.
"Many secured credit
facilities and grants through YouWin, and other sources to expand businesses
they set up using GIS stipends and many have set up through cooperative
associations, some of which have transformed into SMEs; and rather than seeking
for jobs, they are now employers.
"In view of its prospect
for skills building and job creation, the scheme has developed special
programmes for non-oil sector. GIS has entered into special partnerships with
governmental and non-governmental organisations to have graduates trained in
ICT, agriculture, community health, construction, financial inclusion and the
feedbacks of their performances with employers have been encouraging", he
said.
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