The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has announced that at least 21,000 unskilled Nigerians will be engaged in the second phase of the Renewed Hope Employment Initiative (RHEI).
Director-General Silas Agara made the announcement in Abuja during a one-day strategic meeting with state coordinators, zonal directors, and senior officials of the NDE. The meeting focused on finalizing the modalities and timelines for the fully digitalized second phase of the initiative.
During his remarks, Agara expressed gratitude to the President for supporting the NDE in implementing the first phase of the Renewed Hope Employment Initiative, which was launched last year. He highlighted the successful launch and timely completion of the first phase, which exceeded expectations and alleviated initial concerns among stakeholders regarding the NDE’s capacity to deliver.
A lot of people were skeptical about our ability to roll out and successfully implement such a program, viewing the NDE through the lens of past initiatives. However, we have managed to change that narrative and demonstrate to Nigerians that positive outcomes can arise from the current team at the NDE,” he stated.
NDE Director Announces Digitalization of Training Program
He indicated that the second phase of the training program would be fully digitalized, requiring minimal human intervention.
Agara explained that the meeting was designed for collaborative planning. “We have invited all our state directors, state coordinators, and zonal directors to finalize the timelines for launching the second phase of the program. It is not our intention to place the entire burden on our state coordinators; we aim to collectively agree on the timelines and phases for implementation,” he stated.
The NDE chief also assured that measures have been put in place to prevent the stipend payment issues experienced during the first phase from recurring in the upcoming phase.
We are here to finalize the payment structure for stipends due to beneficiaries, as this was a significant challenge during the first phase. We need to refine these details to avoid payment issues. If beneficiaries voice complaints this time, it indicates we are not fulfilling our responsibilities. In the second phase, we do not anticipate the type of complaints we encountered previously regarding payment,” Agara stated.
He also noted that the NDE is prioritizing local content and grassroots relevance in its skill training selections. “We are evaluating skill sets on a state-by-state basis to ensure that we incorporate local content relevant to the areas implementing these programs. This is essential for the Renewed Hope Employment Initiative,” he added.
