The chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Christopher Maikalangu, has flagged off Phase 1 of the empowerment of 700 residents of the council.
Maikalangu while speaking at the flag-off exercise yesterday in Abuja, said the beneficiaries will be given startup kits to practice their trade.
He urged them to be diligent in their chosen professions because it is better to be self-employed than to wait for white-collar jobs as the government cannot employ everyone.
“Since I assumed office, it has been my passion to empower residents of the Council. As of the last count, I have absorbed 360 residents of the council across the 12 wards in AMAC. If you have not benefitted, ask questions in your community, someone must have benefited.
“Every family in AMAC has about five graduates.
If you multiply that, you will see we have millions of graduates. There is no way the federal government will employ everyone. The truth is that we cannot employ everyone too. That is why there is a need for youths to be self-employed.
“This is just phase one of the empowerment scheme. We selected 100 beneficiaries. We identified them in the 12 wards of AMAC and asked what they wanted to be trained on. Some wanted to learn tailoring, baking, welding, barbing, ICT, among others. We then attached them to professionals and organisations, where they were trained.
“We will give them starter packs to start practising what they trained on. Gone are the days where our items will end up being sold at markets. Going forward, we will inspect and monitor the trainees to ensure they utilise the tools for the right purposes. After this phase, we will move on to the next phase, which will be bigger,” he said.
Earlier, the senior special assistant to the chairman on ICT, Mr Jackson, said the empowerment was a replica of what the Chinese government is doing for the youths which made China a World Trade Centre today.
“This skill acquisition programme which is tagged as AMAC Youths Skills Empowerment Programme, is a platform introduced to orient our youths on how to be creative, innovative and productive, in AMAC and Nigeria at large.
“It is a prerequisite established to fight against the high rate of unemployment we have today in the country, thus enhancing the emergence of our youths as job creators and providers.
“This is a replica of what the Chinese Government are doing for their youths that made China a world trade centre today,” he said.