Ngige- FG will pay some youths N5000, some N15,000.

 

Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has said the federal government would get state governments involved in the training and provision of jobs for unemployed youth in the country.
The minister stated this against the backdrop of the fulfillment of federal government’s pledge to pay N5,000 monthly stipends to the unemployed youth in the country.
Ngige pointed out that the promise by the government of All Progressives Congress, APC, for unemployed youths was not for the indolent people, stressing that no country will give free money and Nigeria will not be an exception.
Ngige, however, said the Federal Government would ensure that youth were trained in various skills and programmes to justify the money.
He added that the project would also involved the state governments.
According to him, there will be categories of people, who will earn higher than the N5,000.

“We also have the programme on the commission cash transfer. Though even you, the press, has said it, we won’t pay N5,000 for people to be indolent. No country in the world would pay people to go home and sleep and collect cash. So, Nigeria would not be an exception.

“We will pay some people N5,000, others will pay 10,000, and even for people in teacher conversion scheme, we will pay more than N10,000 and N15,000 as stipend while in training, and then after the training, they are going to be employed by state governments and the Federal Government in different institutions.
“It is not a programme we shall run alone, the state governments are going to buy into it. They are going to synchronize with us.We are going to do it in synergy.”
Ngige also stated that some of the programmes would “span through Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Labour and Agriculture, because we have some agricultural universities, we will convert some people to teach the relevant agricultural science.”

The minister who stated that Nigeria has various skill acquisition centres also underscored the importance of training the youth.
“The ministry has specialist skills acquisition centres, we have seven like that in the ministry under the commissioner of skills or directorate for skills.
“The NDE has over 120 centres scattered all over the country. We also have those that have been built by state governments and we want to capture all of these into that scheme and then get people to the scheme to be bricklayers, POP designers, builders, welders, electronics repairers and the one they called mecha-tronic, repair of vehicles, automobile, carpentry, painting and fabrication of all sorts.”