SURE-P trains Ondo youths to boost employment opportunities

THE Federal Government SURE-P GIS Programme has moved to Ondo State where about 100 graduates benefitted from the trainings organized to take care of graduate interns and some of their employers in Akure, the capital.

The three-day programme, which was held recently, was organized by, the Federal Ministry of Finance’s SURE-P GIS Programme in collaboration with J.K Consulting Company Ltd.

GIS provides one -year work placement for graduates to improve their employability skills and give them a source of livelihood, with a view to providing 50,000 graduates with quality and highly competitive work experience and enhance strong manpower base for national development towards achieving vision 2020.

In a message delivered by Mrs. Bosun Boronle on behalf of the Director of SURE-P GIS programme, P.M. Papka, she said over 22,000 graduates are already enjoying the programme.

At the event, former accountant general of the federation and President of J.K. Consulting Company Ltd, Kayode Naiyeju, posited that only orientation and internship as initiated by the Federal Ministry of Finance through its Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS), could bail the nation out of the alarming rate of unemployment.

According to Naiyeju, “Federal Government expects the trainee to be experienced workers so that they would have skills. When they were in the universities and polytechnics, they learnt theories: many of them are unemployable and many employers are unwilling to engage them. They themselves know that the Nigerian graduates are unemployable because the gap of inexperience is just too alarming. This scheme is creating that experience for them,” he said.

Over the years, several employers of labour nationwide have lamented the poor quality of graduates churned out by Nigerian tertiary institutions, which has in no small measure worsened the alarming rate of unemployment in the country since no employer would engage the services of unskilled workers.

He blamed the poor performances and unemployability of the Nigerian youths on their poor reading habits and lack of interest in knowledge acquisition.

The chartered accountant identified what he termed unguarded use of modern technology and abuse of mobile phones as the bane of this generation. He described the technologies as ‘weapon of mass distraction’, lamenting that the youths allow themselves to be slaves rather than masters to such distractions.

“I am for the redeemable youths because the future of this country lies in your hand,” he reiterated, as he enlightened the participants on the first day of the orientation and training exercise.

He expressed hope for the Nigerian youths through the scheme which prepares the participants for more practical learning and skill acquisition in reputable private and public organisations for 12 months, offers mentorship opportunities and financial motivation monthly for greater performance.

“From this scheme, they will now be equipped with the practical aspect of their line of business and be available for employment through their potential capabilities. They too can think about how to create businesses, particularly the small and medium ones, by their thinking processes so they would be useful for themselves, their employers and the nation at large.

“When they go out, they have enough skills to perform. The Federal Government is paying them and the employers too, so that the firms can impart and give them the platform to get experience. And when they have gotten the experience, they become highly competitive for all prospective employers of labour.”

Naiyeju said, “The stark reality is that this scheme is bailing the nation out of the oil recess that is affecting the global economic system. Dubai, an oil producing country, has diversified and re-invested into tourism; and our own government is using the subsidy from oil to build the capacity of the youths, so that an army of employers can be created in the nearest future through the internship scheme.”