SMEDAN trains 90 unemployed youths in Kebbi

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) on Thursday said it had trained 90 unemployed youths in Kebbi under its Entrepreneurship Development Programme for Unemployed Youths (EDPUY).

An official of the agency, Alhaji Ishaq Hamis, said in Birnin Kebbi that the training was part of Federal Government’s programme to make the youths self-reliant.

Hamis said that the programme was aimed at educating unemployed youths in record keeping and business management.

“We expect the trainees to reduce unemployment by becoming employers and experts in marketing strategies and product expansion”.

He said the trainees would be assisted to obtain loans from the Bank of Industry (BoI) or National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND) provided they presented feasibility plans for viable ventures.

The SMEDAN official said that the agency would open additional centres in the state and called on job seekers to exploit the training opportunities for self-employment.

Hamis said that the agency and its partner, Bubbles Consulting Nigeria Ltd., would sustain the training programme and ensure that youths acquired skills that would make them self-reliant.

Malam Zayyanu Shehu, who spoke on behalf of the participants, called for the sustenance and expansion of the training as well as provision of take-off capital for the trainees to set up enterprises.