FG Starts Evaluating NDE Loans To Youths

The Federal Government has started tracking and analysing soft loans issued to unemployed youths who have been trained by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) on various skill development programmes.

Abubakar Fikpo, the Director-General of the NDE, led media around recipients' businesses in several localities on Wednesday in Abuja.

He exhorted the youths to accept the fact that the country's white-collar occupations were no longer available.

"It's great to have certificates, but it's much better to have talents." So, we want unemployed Nigerians' attitudes to alter because we constantly telling them that certifications would not pay their bills.

"However, you have ready-made tools in your hands. You can go out and fend for yourself as soon as you get skills. "You can do something," the NDE's leader remarked.

Christopher Kadiri, a beneficiary and proprietor of a bakery in Gwagwa, said the loan and skills he gained from the NDE programme helped him expand his business.

With around 20 direct employees and ten marketers, he said he transitioned from snack to bread manufacture.