WHAT WE ARE DOING ABOUT UNEMPLOYMENT IN DELTA STATE - ASIUWHU

Unemployment in Nigeria has become a great challenge to successive administrations, therefore it is imperative to state that unemployment is not a new phenomenon in the political development of delta state. Without taking exception of the fact that in delta state, we have found the solution towards solving unemployment which placed a great burden on the Governor upon assumption of office. In addressing the challenges of unemployment, there are certain variables or connecting circuits that needs to be fixed. These include, infrastructural development such as transportation, electricity, security, land and capital which the Okowa led administration has not paid lipservice to it.

Recognising the fact that unemployment can only be tackled through meaningful engagement of our people either in trade, commernce and services. Therefore, the job creation schemes of the state government is aimed at addressing specifically the issue of unemployment, in a bid to creating meaningful engagement for our youths through requisite skills acquisition programmes or agriculture as embedded in STEP and YAGEP. The main driving force behind this administration job creation policy, is to ensure that our people especially the youths are gainfully employed. Government cannot continue to overstretch the publicservice by continually employing people when they can actually create the right atmosphere for these persons to own their business and in turn employ people to work for them and earn a living.

The Smart Agenda of His Excellency the Governor of Delta State, Sen Dr Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa is aimed at creating a new breed of entrepreneurs across the state, who will fit into the various productive sectors of the economy and at the same time providing the needed manpower for industrial growth and development. The testimonies from our ambassadors in the STEP and YAGEP programs are real and verifiable. It is on record that our job creation policy is best across the country as attested to by the World Bank. The World Bank after reviewing our job creation programmes has decided to partner with the state government, which goes to show that we are serious and passionate about taking our people off the streets and turning them to entrepreneurs.

We do not just stop at training and setting up our interns, we have a mentoring and monitoring department that is responsible for providing support services for our entrepreneurs for them to succeed in their chosen career. The world of entrepreneurship development is a challenging one and as such they need to be guided properly for them to be more successful. We also provide financial support services for them in terms of workshops and seminars, costumized loans through the Delta State Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, which is also given to farmers, artisans, traders and women.

The vision of creating a better Delta State where our people are engaged in one meaningful activity or another has yielded positive results. We will encourage our youths to take advantage of the various entrepreneurship development programmes organised by the state government with a view to creating meaningful jobs for our people and solving the dreaded monster of unemployment which we have been tackling.