Nigeria - National Directorate of Employment in Kogi State has said it will conduct a recruitment exercise for 389 unemployed persons into the Directorates Rural Agricultural Development Training Scheme (RADTS) and the Basic Skills Acquisition Training Scheme (B-SATS). The NDE State Coordinator for Kogi State Barrisiter Nnamdi Asomugha who disclosed this during a press briefing in his office in Lokoja, the State capital, said with the recruitment, a total of 500 youths would be undergoing training through the various programmes of the NDE in Kogi State. Noting that under the RADTS, 100 unemployed youths especially school leavers would be vigorously trained in modern agricultural production, the state coordinator said the participants engaged in the scheme will undergo theoretical and practical training for 4 months in Arable crop production, food preservation, livestock and Agro-services.

He informed that the training, shall be conducted at the NDE Agricultural Skills Training Centre located at Imela in Yagba East local Government Area for a period of four months beginning from 1st July 2011.

The State coordinator said that 289 unemployed youths shall participate in the B-SATs under the Vocational Skills Development Programme of the NDE. The B-SATS was previously called the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS) but has been re-packaged to meet the challenges of skills traing under a modern economy.

He said that the scheme has been redesigned to lay emphasis on technical trades such as information and computer technology, auto-mechanic, essential technical maintenance in air-conditioning, , panel beating, plumbing, maintaining that the trades under this category shall constitute 80% of the trainees while domestic trade such as fashion designing, air-dressing and barbing shall involve the rest of the beneficiaries.

The trainees, he said, shall be placed under master trainers to acquire skills for period long enough to enable them gain the required experience.

Akor Sylvester

Daily Champion/21/06/2011