Over 300,000 graduates to be trained by FG

                        

The Federal Government has said no fewer than 305,780 graduates in the country had registered for the Federal Ministry of Finance’s Graduate Internship Scheme as part of ways to solve the problem of

unemployment in the country.

The Project Director of the scheme, Mr. Peter Papka, disclosed this in Akure, the Ondo State capital at the opening ceremony of the GIS orientation for the interns.

Parka noted that the purpose of setting up the internship scheme for graduates to acquire employability had been achieved, saying that across all sectors, positive testimonials and encomiums had been pouring in from both interns and firms that benefited from the scheme.He said, “From registration figures on the GIS portal, 13,781 firms across the country have registered to participate in the scheme with 305,780 graduates having registered. This is encouraging as it shows great confidence in the programme from both firms and graduates.

“Graduates of about 251,186 have been deployed, with 68 per cent males, 31 per cent females and one per cent vulnerable. So far, 9,387 have exited the scheme, with over 1,000 having secured jobs or started own businesses.

“The orientation and employability training is meant primarily for graduate interns. We have, however, deliberately included partnering firms and organisations as part of the government’s commitment in contributing towards enhancement of their capacity in service effectiveness, especially through staff assessment, official etiquette, staff management and development.”

According to him, the scheme had contributed to the renewed growth of Small and Medium Scales Enterprises and skilled manpower in the country.

He posited that, in line with the Federal Government’s resolve to diversify the economic base of the country, the scheme had keyed into the non-oil sector with a view to developing capacity and skill required to complement the oil and gas sector of the economy.

The GIS director expressed assurance that the scheme would be another example that Nigeria would sell to the world as a way out of graduate unemployment, stressing that in few years to come, the GIS interns would galvanise different sectors, especially the non-oil sector, which is the new focus of the Nigerian economy.

He reassured the government’s commitment to the scheme and urged both firms and interns to justify the gesture by contributing to the development of the country.