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Tag: Graduate Internship Scheme

  • 75 fresh beneficiaries begin Graduate Internship Scheme in Edo

    Not less than 75 beneficiaries have commenced six months internship under the EdoJobs Graduate Internship and Apprenticeship scheme, an initiative of Governor Godwin Obaseki to provide graduates with relevant practical skills and industry-based experience.

    Speaking to journalists at an orientation programme organised for the interns at the Edo Innovation Hub, in Benin City, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Jobs Creation and Skills Development, Ukinebo Dare, said besides the long-term plan, the scheme is expected to bridge the job experience gap of graduates, even as they search for other job opportunities.

    READ ALSO: Edo grants clemency, parole to 84 prisoners

    Dare noted, “We have been able to find organisations who are in search of graduate interns. One major criteria we look out for in these organisations is the capacity to grow to absorb the interns at the completion of the six-month internship. Having the right manpower is one key success factor for organisations.”

    “Edo State Government will provide funding for the internship as the interns work for six months to gain relevant experience in these organisations,” she added.

    Ukinebo Dare

    Dare explained that the 75 beneficiaries in the second batch of the scheme have been deployed to different organisations, which include those in the public and private sectors, where the graduates are expected to gain relevant experience with the possibility of being fully employed at the end of the scheme.

    She said the scheme is also for non-graduates, who are being deployed as apprentices to learn new skills and with the opportunity of being absorbed by the organisation where they work.

    One of the graduate interns, Vivian Oriere, a graduate of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, commended the state governor on the scheme, describing him as kind-hearted.

    Beneficiaries at the Internship Scheme

  • Lagos graduate internship scheme begins May

    The Lagos State Government is kicking off its 2018 graduate internship scheme (GIS) in May.

    Two thousand young graduates are expected to benefit from the scheme.

    Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf,who spoke in Lagos yesterday at a meeting with stakeholders,said  the government was  worried about the growing rate of graduate joblessness.

    She attributed the situation to employees’ education and skills being inadequate to meet the needs of modern day jobs.

    She said it was obvious there was an urgent need to completely restructure the curricular to conform to the dynamics of the labour market.

    She said the Lagos government introduced the GIS with the aim to post graduates to reputable firms and organisations, to enable them learn skills and techniques required as potential employees and future employers of labour.

    According to her, the duration of the programme was increased to six month this year due to feed back from last year’s exercise.She explained that one month will be for training and induction and five months internship with employers.

    She said the programme will give people from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to see what a career in the private sector is, as well as to be acquainted with the broad range of opportunities available across the industry. The internships are open to young graduates who have not yet secured employment, or are underemployed. The commissioner said the State Government expects the interns, not only to be offered full-time positions with the business they interned for, but that some interns are expected to start their own companies. She called on members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) to key into the graduate internship scheme. Under the scheme, the government pays the  companies. Their role is to train the graduates. Firms that undertake to train the graduates have very strict guidelines. They are to inculcate them with certain attributes and skills, including verbal and written communication competence, analytical and investigative abilities, entrepreneurship and managerial competence, teamwork, computer skills, time management, drive and flexibility.Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment inducted the first batch of 500 graduates to the programme in March last year.

     

  • Lagos begins graduate internship scheme

    Lagos begins graduate internship scheme

    • Each beneficiary gets N25,000 monthly

    The Lagos State is kicking its graduate internship scheme with each beneficiary set to get N25,000 monthly.
    Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Babatunde Durosimi-Etti, said 2000 young graduates are expected to benefit from the pilot scheme.
    Durosimi-Etti, who spoke in Lagos yesterday after meeting with stakeholders , said the first batch of beneficiaries would be serve at various work placements for three months.
    He said the programme will give people from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to see what a career in the private sector is, as well as to be aquianted with the broad range of opportunities available across the industry.
    The internships are open to young graduates who have not yet secured employment, or are underemployed. Durosimi-Etti said interns will be provided with an intensive programme of support and development, including an induction process and regular development sessions.
    He said applicants are required to complete and submit the online application form.
    The commissioner said the State Government expects the interns, not only to be offered full-time positions with the business they interned for, but that some interns are expected to start their own companies.

  • ‘Why Graduate Internship Scheme contract was terminated’

    ‘Why Graduate Internship Scheme contract was terminated’

    Following the  directive by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy/Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the termination of the partnership between the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) and Forecom Networks Limited (FNL) on the Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS), the GIS has clarified why the pact was terminated.

    In a briefing with reporters in Lagos, the GIS alleged that FNL did not keep to the terms of the contract. “We have decided to use one of the firms with large number of interns as an example to serve as a deterrent to other partners that do not keep to the terms of the contract,” the Head of Operations, GIS, Akubo Adegbe said.

    “The GIS will like to state that it will not hesitate to prosecute firms and/or interns that operate outside its guidelines,” he added. The GIS is one of the components of the Sure-P set up in 2012 by the Federal Government to reduce unemployment in the country.

    He explained that qualified graduates and companies register on the GIS website, which then deploy graduates to firms where they can gain valuable experience for 12 months. A monthly stipend is paid to each intern for the 12-month duration of the internship by the GIS, on the basis of how many days they work. So, companies can get free manpower in exchange for adequate mentoring of these graduates. There are about 22,000 interns currently on the scheme and up to 3,900 firms serving as valid employers.

    According to the FNL, problem started when the firm approached the GIS to recruit graduates for mobile money business. Apparently, after the required background check on the number of graduates the firm could engage was done, 2,000 interns were deployed to FNL.

    However, according to GIS, months after the graduates were deployed to the firm as interns, they were not deployed to work on mobile money business. Some interns were deployed to man the office of the FNL in Lagos and some of its state offices in Nigeria as officers that were to mentor other interns. This is not in line with the guidelines of the scheme, which demands that interns must be mentored by experienced staff of the partnering companies.

    Meanwhile, after terminating its partnership with FNL, GIS said it has taken steps to reintegrate the affected interns. “There would be internship opportunity fairs in the approved pilot states within the next three weeks to redeploy all interns that are still interested in the scheme to other organisations. The GIS will contact organisations that will take the interns located outside the pilot states.

  • SURE-P trains 500 graduates in Akwa Ibom

    SURE-P trains 500 graduates in Akwa Ibom

    Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, has mobilized 500 graduates under Graduate Internship Scheme, (GIS) for placement in private and public organizations to work and learn skills relevant to their aspirations for one year.

    The job fare was held in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, over the weekend.

    It witnessed the presence of over 80 firms that are seeking the services of these young Nigerian graduates under the scheme.

    The Project Director, GIS, Peter Papka, said that the Federal Government decided to provide orientation training for the country’s graduates towards preparing them for workplace.

    Papka, who was represented by Communications Specialist, GIS, Suleiman

    Haruna stated that unemployment is the greatest threat to Nigeria’s nationhood, resulting in insurgency and other violent crimes in the country.

    He added that by taking these graduates off the streets and also by giving them industry orientation training, they would be equipped to take up full employment as they should have gained in experience.

    His words: “We have mobilized 500 graduates under the GIS for placement in different reputable private and public organisations to work and learn skills relevant to their aspirations for 12 months.

    “The interns are assigned a mentor in their place of internship to provide direction and support their career development. Interns get a monthly stipend of N25,000 from the government for 12 months plus a group life and accident insurance.”

    Papka revealed that the participating firms will have opportunity to evaluate and recruit tested and proven interns without additional cost on hiring.

    According to him, firms will have enhanced recruitment and retention of employee while contributing to building manpower base for the country, among others.

    He said: “Firms will have an opportunity to discharge their corporate social responsibility to the nation. This is a means of providing skilled and productive workforce to drive the country’s transformation.

    “Employed graduates reduces social dislocations in the country and promotes stability, and as a social safety nets intervention, more Nigerians begin to live above the poverty line.”

    He warned the interns against unacceptable habits at workplace, like divulging organisations’ confidential information to outsiders and frequently absenting themselves from work.

    He advised those who have been retained in the organizations in which they have been posted, to tell the GIS Project Director their new status so that a new intern can be posted to the place.

    He added that the trend will help the SURE-P block any possibility of an intern having to receive the monthly stipend after he has been employed by the firm.