The Delta State Government on Thursday reiterated its support for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa said this in Ezi during the ground breaking of the Skills Acquisition Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) Centre.
Okowa, who was represented by Prof. Eric Eboh, Job Creation Officer, said that the establishment of the SAED centre was timely.
He said that the nation was at a critical point in its history where wealth and job creators were needed not job seekers.
He said that a major drawback to our current educational system is that it produced graduates that did not possess the skills to function in the 21st Century marketplace.
The governor said that with the limited employment opportunities in the public service and government, most of the graduates ended up swelling the army of the unemployed.
He said that the philosophy of SAED was in line with his administration’s job creation scheme and educational policy, which were focused on skills’ acquisition as against rote learning or certificate acquisition.
The traditional ruler of Ezi, Obi Mohanyem 1, said that the event marked the construction of the first skills’ acquisition centre by the NYSC in Delta.
Mohanyem said that the community was happy to support the cause of the NYSC toward youth development.
He said that he was aware that the project would also provide job opportunities for the teeming jobless youths.
The traditional ruler said that the skills’ acquisition centre would not only impact skills on youths but would also provide employment opportunities for Delta citizens.
The NYSC Director-General, Brig. Suleman Zakaure, said that Delta was chosen ss the centre for SAED in the South-South zone because of its strategic location.
Zakaure said that the aggressive expansion of the frontiers of SAED would remain a positive game changer.
He said that by the time the centre becomes fully operational, it would be the most reliable driver and provider of hope for youths from the zone and the country as a whole.
He, therefore, called on corps members to key-in into the skills’ acquisition programme and become self-employed rather than chasing white collar jobs that were non existent.
(NAN)
AGE/IFY/PAD
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