Bayelsa trains over 1,000 youths in skills acquisition – Commissioner

The Bayelsa State Government has trained more than 1,000 youths in skills acquisition in various trades towards making them self-reliant.
The state’s commissioner for Youths Development, Udensi Eradiri, disclosed this on Wednesday in Yenogoa at a business development seminar organised by the government for the youths.
He said the youths were trained in different skills and rudiments in establishing small scale businesses in order to become entrepreneurs in the future.
Eradiri said the youths had been coached to become entrepreneurs that would drive their businesses.
According to him, the seminar, tagged: “Bayelsa Business Linkage Forum,” is aimed at bringing out the entrepreneurial skills in the youths.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Eradiri was the immediate past President of Ijaw Youth Council, Worldwide.
He said the programme was part of the initiatives of the state government to engage young people meaningfully and train them to be job creators and not job seekers.
He said: “Youths development is what we are doing today.
“Often times, people see youths as those often involved in crimes and other nefarious activities.
“But the truth is that a lot of young people are enterprising, many of them are serious minded.
“That is why we thought it wise to bring those of them who are doing business together and use them as ambassadors for other young people.
“It’s parts of our initiatives to engage the youths meaningfully, teach them how to create jobs, because it is small businesses like this that will actually create jobs that we are talking about.
“If you develop one entrepreneur, he may end up employing five to 20 other persons.
“That is why we as a government must start to encourage them and bring them to a roundtable with industry operators and also expose them to loan facilities.
“We have already collated database of young entrepreneurs in our ministry, we want to know those who are productive so that we will collaborate with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to train them on how to boost their businesses.”
Also in his remarks, the Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John-Jonah (retd), who declared the training open, said the seminar was arranged to position the state for industrial development.
John-Jonah noted that the state was efficient in industrial development and urged the participants to utilise the opportunity of the training to build prosperous future for themselves.