Three years after the flag-off of the Ford Foundation-funded Niger Delta Youth Empowerment Pathways (NDYEP), the Partnership Initiative for Niger Delta Development has wound up the project with a call to government and stakeholders to adopt training and utilisation models that focus on markets and demand. Shola O’NEIL REPORTS
In 2017, the Ford Foundation and Partnership Initiative for Niger Delta (PIND) commenced a unique skill training programme for some states in the Niger Delta. The programme tagged Niger Delta Youth Empowerment Pathways (NDYEP), which was done in two phases, started in Abia, Akwa-Ibom and Rivers states, three of the leading states in unemployment, not only in the region, but the country.
The oil-rich delta region of Nigeria is never in short supply of such programs by government or agencies, which usually tagged them ‘skill acquisition’, ‘employment summit’ and other fancy names, but such projects are rarely demand-driven.
Conversely, the NDYEP was focussed on areas that had been identified to have great employment potential for youths, following a labor market assessment conducted by the PIND Foundation – a Chevron Nigeria Limited funded NGO – in the states.
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At the close-out of the programme last Wednesday, about 40percent of the beneficiaries have either gained employment or are self-employed or at various stages of being employers of labour.
The foundation said it adopted NDYEP as an innovative model designed, not just to train, “but to prepare youth (including the young people living in rural areas, women, and persons living with disabilities) with market-relevant skills for securing sustainable jobs.”
It said the project, at its inception, aimed to train 4,500 vulnerable Niger Delta youth on market-relevant, demand-driven skills as well as soft skills, preparing them for formal employment, internship/apprenticeship, or entrepreneurship through business start-ups; modeling multiple pathways to employment.
PIND Executive Director Dr Dara Akala, in an interview, explained the model: “First of all, we looked at, the type of skills that are in demand in the market place and in that way, we designed a programme to be able to equip the people with those relevant skills that will help them transition from the training into jobs.
“We are not about skills acquisition, but skills utilisation; we are concerned of where it leads to – for employment, for internship or apprenticeship or for job creation so that people who are job seekers yesterday can become job creators. So if you look at the multiplier effects of the young entrepreneurs that this programme has produced, you will begin to realise that it is having a ripple effect in the region.”
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PIND stated that “Over the two phases of the pilot, 4,817 participants were enrolled, 4,355 completed the training successfully and 1,933 of the successful trainees are currently linked to waged employment via apprenticeship/internship, or entrepreneurship, each now earning income.”
It identified lack of access to economic opportunities in the Niger Delta as one of the leading causes of unemployment, which in turn drives conflicts and youth restiveness in the region.
“The region records some of the highest rates of unemployment in the country, higher than the national average. With the limited economic activities and other disruptions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the country’s unemployment rate previously at an average of 23 percent spiked to 27.1 percent as at the second quarter of 2020 and according to the recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) unemployment report, there has been a 6.2 percent increase, raising the national unemployment rate to 33.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020. Some Niger Delta States are at the top of the list of states with the highest employment rates.”
Dr Akala noted that it was important for governments across the country to tackle the issue of unemployment.
“As we said during the course of the programme, the issue of unemployment is the biggest challenge for development in our nation, Nigeria, noting, “It is more severe in the Niger Delta Region because some of the States with the highest unemployment are in the region such as Akwa Ibom, Rivers , Abia, with very high unemployment rate.”
Dr Akala said the NDYEP programme was designed to address unemployment in a very practical way, noting that apart from training over 4,500 youths in the scheme, they were equipped with practical skills in order to be able to get jobs, enthusing: “as we speak, those people that benefited from this programme have either got paid employment or they have created enterprises of their own. So, that is our own contribution; it is very small compared to the scale of unemployment problem but it is a very good start.”
During the close-out workshop, implementing partners and project participants of the NDYEP project shared stories about their successes, key learning, and experiences on the project.
Emeka Elle, Project Lead of NYDC/PIND said NDYEP idea was to identify high demand skills, create the job readiness models that others can begin to learn from and implement on a larger skill.
He said, “We do not train for training sake; it is not whether you give them money. Search out people who really desired to be trained in a particular area; second train people in areas where there is demand for their skills, third, train in a way that the market actually demands it. It is not about doing hair dressing, learn the current one, you can’t be doing hair styles of 1980s in this present generation.”
“There is no one bullet, if government can be a lot more strategic, begin to invest, it will be easier to get the right people to train them, give them the necessary links. I, therefore, Charge the beneficiaries to utilise what they have learnt, create jobs for themselves and others.”
Chika Chinwa, one of the implementing partners, said: “We offer different skills programme, but coming into NDYEP project and the strategy that was adopted, working with the university, the people actually in the construction industry that are masters of construction, it was quite a learning experience for us, especially the aspect of building the participants’ soft skills.”
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Some of the beneficiaries of the training also spoke about its impact on their trade and lives. Ogbonna Mary, who participated under the ICT sector, said the project elevated her from a sales girl in Aba to an ICT sector participant, who has now worked for as a market research journalist for Google PPDC, also working for a Google digital skills trainer, and even co-founded a startup.
She said: “Before the NYEP project, I had a life but it was not the kind of life I dreamt of. I used to be one of those sales girls at the market in Aba to assist my aunty, but then I have always wanted more for myself. Not until that fateful day when a friend of mine told me about the IGHub entrepreneurs and developers fellowship and I took that bold step to register and it has been the best decision of my life.”
She said she now mentors young girls between the ages of 10 to 15 years to get them involved in technical education. “Girls tend to shy away from technical education stuff, but I am a testimony of what the girl child can do. I did not study computer science but see where NDYEP has brought me.”
Mary is not the only one with astounding testimony of what the project has done for her. Uduak Etuk, Professional wood worker who also completed the programme described it as “really wonderful”, noted that “I have benefited a lot from PIND. Before now, I did know how to use machines, but through PIND I can now use any machine that is used in my trade. My plan is to go and do space saving-furniture that have not been done before in in Nigeria.”
She revealed plan to create removable and easily-assembled furniture line, the type that IKEA Furniture is known for in the western world.
Mr. Tunji Idowu, Deputy Executive Director PIND Foundation, urged stakeholders, especially Government at all levels, to adopt the NDYEP model for youth job creation, noting that although the various governments are at fore of addressing youth unemployment, “no single entity, Government, private sector, or civil society organisation can solve the complex problem of youth unemployment in the Niger Delta as it requires a synergy of efforts, resources, and capabilities of all stakeholders involved”.
He further stressed that “no society wants to have an army of unemployed youth”.
One of the highlights of the close-out workshop was the award of 80 successful participants of the NDYEP Business Plan Challenge Fund. The competitive business plan challenge aimed to encourage and support innovative micro/small business enterprise ideas that create opportunities for income generation and jobs creating for aspiring young NDYEP trainees in the three project states of Abia, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.
Winners of the NDYEP Business Plan Challenge Fund were awarded between 5, 00,000 Naira for sole proprietors and 2,000,000 Naira for start-ups or cooperatives. The workshop also recognized the services of the Project’s Advisory Committee to the project.
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