FG Starts Jobless Nigerians' Countrywide Registration - NDE

To help them find work, Nigeria's National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has started registering all unemployed persons.

Ifeoma Ezekwe, the agency's Enugu coordinator, said this in an interview on Friday in Enugu. The operation, according to Ms. Ezekwe, is taking place in all 36 states, including the FCT, Abuja.

She added that the registration was taking place simultaneously in all 774 local government areas and was open to all unemployed Nigerians, regardless of their level of education.

"The country cannot plan without data, data is very important in planning, and NDE, since 1987, has been in the business of reducing the number of unemployed people, making them employers of labour and self-employed," stated the NDE coordinator.

The four main NDE programs, according to Ms. Ezekwe, are rural empowerment, small skills enterprises, vocational skills, and special public works. She added that the state directorate had just finished teaching women how to make shoes and bags so that they might have a job and make some money while working as full-time housewives.

The NDE representative claims that when the directorate trains citizens, stipends are given.

Mallam Abubakar Fikpo, acting director General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE)