‘Delta State set to commence 2019/2020 jobs creation programme’

The Delta State government has disclosed that all it has made necessary arrangements for the commencement of the 2019/2020 cycle of its jobs creation programme.

Chief Job and Wealth Creation Officer, Professor Eric Eboh, disclosed this yesterday in Asaba during a work plan and implementation guideline meeting with members of staff.

Eboh said the meeting was necessary following approval of the 2019/2020 Job Creation Programme Work plan and Implementation Guideline by the State Executive Council (SEC).

According to him, the guideline will be published and issued to all the trainees, trainers, guarantors and to all stakeholders to update them on innovations and adjustments in the curriculum and training modules initiated after a thorough review of the programme in the last four years.

Eboh stressed that the programmes were open to the unemployed youths between 18 and 35 years of age with a minimum qualification of West Africa School Certificate and those who completed the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination.

He noted that degree and HND holders should have their NYSC discharge certificates or letters of exemption.

He said that the youth, who desired to be trained and established under “Green STEP and YAGEP”, must have the passion to acquire skills and to establish and run business enterprises on their own.

Eboh reiterated that the introduction of the Post Training Proficiency Test (PTPT), was compulsory for all “Green STEP” beneficiaries on completion of their vocational training, noting that competence and good mastery of skill would qualify a trainee to be established with starter pack.

“The ‘Brown STEP’ category will only admit candidates who do well in the Pre-Admission Proficiency Test (PAPT),” he said.

Eboh added that the duration of some of the vocational and agricultural enterprises would be extended beyond three and six months, saying the essence of the extension is to enable the beneficiaries to acquire necessary skills and gain good mastery of the enterprises for sustainability,

“Enterprises as Tiling and Interlocking, Fashion and Textile Design, Painting and Screening, among others would be combined to strengthen and make the enterprises more viable for the beneficiaries.

“The YAGEP programme will run within four to six months in order to expose the trainees to the full production cycle of their chosen agricultural enterprise,” he said.

Under the Graduate Employment Enhancement Programme (GEEP), he said internship and employability workshops to bring job recruitment agencies and job-seeking professionals together would be organised.