SME sector gets boost as FG churns out 2,000 digital trained youths

Nigeria’s SME sector is set for a revolution as 2,000 youth across the country Friday completed their 7-week digital skills training facilitated by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (FMYSD).

Giving the keynote address at the closing ceremony of the training programme tagged Economic Sustainability Plan (FMYSD-ESP) for youth, Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare stated that the programme is an expression of the priority focus of President Muhammadu Buhari on job creation and his resolve to lift 100million Nigerians out of poverty in 10years.

The FMYSD-ESP programme is another strategy of the Ministry to deliver on Digital Skills Acquisition, Employability, Entrepreneurship and Leadership (DEEL) initiative and it focuses on three major areas of the DEEL Initiative – Digital Skills, Employability, Work Experience and the Green stimulus framework which emphasizes Entrepreneurship and Digital solutions in Agriculture and renewable energy.

Beneficiaries of the ESP selected through a competitive process across the 6 Geo-political zones went through training in digital skills such as graphics and animation, internet of things, robotics, software development, coding and business process outsourcing. 1,600 youth were trained through Digital Youth Nigeria (DY.ng), 280 went through capacity building in renewable energy and smart agriculture while 2,550 have been placed in organizations as paid interns for 3 months under the Work Experience Programme (WEP).

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Dare noted that sustainable economic engagement of youth is one of the major means through which Nigeria can achieve national development goals, restating that the approach of his Ministry has been the inclusion of youth employment as a priority segment of the National Youth Policy.

The Minister emphasized that officials of the Ministry will monitor the progress of graduates periodically to provide guidance and ensure compliance, in line with the objective of the programme. He also charged beneficiaries to take advantage of credit opportunities available to young people by accessing the National Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) to strengthen their businesses.

Also speaking at the event, Nebeolisa Anako, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, while distributing starter packs and other empowerment tools to participants stated that the Ministry will continue to ensure full implementation of the programmes and projects of the Federal Government in line with the policy thrust of the present Administration.