Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, on Tuesday performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the Dangote Education for Employment (E4E) job centre at Okpuala in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area of the state.
The pilot project, which is to be fully funded by Dangote Group, led by its Chairman, Aliko Dangote, is aimed at providing a digital one-stop-shop for job seekers with services that include free employment consultancy.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Ikpeazu, applauded the Dangote group for selecting Abia State as one of the pioneer states for the corporate social responsibility project.
The governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Ude Chukwu, also called on other corporate organizations to emulate the Dangote Group in giving back to the society.
Mr. Ikpeazu pointed out that his administration’s pledge to offer technical and vocational education training to 100, 000 youths in the state has been boosted with the new project.
“When we launched the E4E project we started by profiling unemployed youths in the state and created a database that identified their employment needs and then moved further to train the first batch to acquire relevant skills required by employers as well as the skills that will enable others to be self-employed,” the governor said.
“With the expected realization of this job centre project, we should be able to acquire the additional capacity to place them and others who wish to be gainfully engaged.
“Our administration views job creation and skills development as necessary ingredients for our integrated economic development agenda as the availability of relevant skill sets in our environment will naturally lead to more investment and further reduction in unemployment related criminal activities,” he said.
The governor promised not to leave any stone unturned in the effort to train and engage as many indigenes of the state who are willing to work while assuring that the new job centre will be replicated across the remaining 16 council areas of the state.
He further assured of the willingness of the state government to partner with private and public sector organisations for the common good of the state and the country.
In his address, Mr. Dangote, who was represented by Charles Obera, said the jobcentre project is a demonstration of the commitment of the group towards human capital development in Nigeria and Abia State in particular.
The billionaire businessman urged other corporate bodies, development partners and well-meaning people of the state to rally around the governor in his efforts at retraining youth.
This, he said they can do by sponsoring at least one of the remaining 16 E4E centres planned for the state.
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Also speaking, the state coordinator of the E4E program, Endi Ezengwa, said the setting up of job centres and the E4E program are major development initiatives conceived by the state government.
“We appreciate the Dangote Group for coming to support this laudable program that Governor Ikpeazu has been championing since the inception of his administration,” Mr. Ezengwa said.
“Our modest expectation is that other well-meaning Nigerians and organizations will also key into this vision and help us move to the next level.
“Indeed the Dangote group have proved themselves to be reliable allies to the people of Abia State and I am confident others will borrow a leaf from them and key into the dream of providing jobs for Abia youths.”
The Chairman of Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area, Ginger Onwusibe, expressed delight over the choice of the area for the pilot project.
He said the state government had already trained and employed 100 youth from the area.
Governor Ikpeazu had launched the Education for Employment Scheme on the 16th of September 2015.
Already, 460 youth who enrolled in the programme have received certificates from the National Board for Technical Education.
