In continuing its efforts to reduce youth unemployment within Nigeria’s Niger Delta region, the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) unveiled the Ondo State edition of its Youth Employment Pathways (YEP) program in Akure, the state capital, on January 17, 2024. PIND collaborated with the Ondo state government and other state actors to make the state the fifth in its effort to scale economic activities and enhance job creation across all the nine states in the region.
The YEP program aims to provide disadvantaged young men and women in the Niger Delta opportunities to secure sustainable jobs and enterprises. It incorporates steps such as assessing the labor market for skill gaps, initiating skills development, analyzing opportunities for employment creation, and then developing models of youth job readiness or workforce development. Through this intervention, at least 360 unemployed youths in the state will be equipped with innovative and quality technical occupational training with market-relevant skills and will be supported in their transition into work or entrepreneurship. Such market-relevant skills aim to enhance their income-earning opportunities in various sectors, including agriculture, ICT, building construction, and services, including solar installation and inverter maintenance. Youth participants will also be trained in conflict sensitivity and management to enable them to emerge as peace actors in their localities.
This intervention is expected to boost economic activities in the state by enhancing job opportunities, attracting investment, and promoting peace, thus contributing to creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the Niger Delta. In welcoming participants, PIND’s Executive Director, Tunji Idowu, represented by Dr. Effiong Essien, Program Director, emphasized the need for implementing partners to seize the opportunity to build the capacity of youths in the state.
In his remarks, Idowu said, “YEP deploys a program model focused on training marginalized young people with skills to meet market relevance and subsequently transition them to sustainable jobs or enterprises.” He further emphasized that between 2018 and 2023, the YEP program has empowered over 7,000 youths with skill sets in various sectors across four Niger Delta States (Abia, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Delta). Successful participants have since moved onto immediate wage employment or gained support to start their own innovative enterprises.
