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Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state.

By Gertrude Onyekachukwu-Uteh

Trainers engaged to teach beneficiaries of the state government’s Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) have applauded the government for the passing of the Delta State Job and Wealth Creation Bureau Bill into law.

The commendation was made during the Post Training Proficiency Test (PTPT) held in Asaba for the 5th Batch of STEP graduates who recently completed their vocational trainings in Electrical & Solar Works and in Welding & Fabrication.

In an interview, the Managing Director of BD Photos Energy Nig. Ltd, Mr Babashola Dapo, commended Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for sending an executive bill to the Delta State House of Assembly to establish the Delta State Job and Wealth Creation Bureau.

He also applauded the Delta State House of Assembly for the timely passage of the bill after due legislative considerations, describing the process and the assent to the bill by the governor as another milestone in the implementation of the job creation programme.

He affirmed that the bill would give successive governments the legal backing to continue with the laudable programme of nurturing youths into entrepreneurs and job creators, thereby growing the economy of the state.

He pointed out that the negative effects of the #EndSARS protests were minimal in Delta State because, according to him, many youths in the state were meaningfully engaged in one vocational enterprise or the other and were beneficiaries of the job creation programme.

While encouraging his fellow trainers to put in their best as they partner with the state government in the business of training and mentoring youths in relevant skills, he charged STEP graduates to remain passionate about their chosen skills in order to succeed as entrepreneurs.

“It is a welcome development that the job creation programme has come to stay and that it will outlive the present administration, especially with the passing into law the Job and Wealth Creation Bureau.

“It has helped the youths to become gainfully employed and focused. If the trainee fails, the trainers fails too. The PTPT as an innovation has helped me to channel more energy to teach and to revise the training module with my trainees to help them pass well,” he stated.

On his part, the Managing Director of SC & CO, General Electrical, Mr Stephen Nwaebo, said that institutionalizing the job creation programme by giving it a legal backing was the right step in the right direction, adding that it would create more opportunities for more youths to be taken off the streets.

He emphasized that the programme had been a credible one, urging youths to key into it, even as he described the PTPT as a very necessary innovation and as a proof that the beneficiaries were capable of starting up without selling the starter packs.

Mr Nwaebo, however, advised the government to review the selection process to ensure that only those who had passion for the skill and were available to learn the skills were enrolled into the programme.

Responding on behalf of others, Vincent Odili (Ndokwa East LGA) in Electrical and Solar Works, expressed his gratitude to the state government for the opportunity to become an entrepreneur.

‘’I studied Mathematics in the university and have been unemployed for five years. Before now, I did not know anything about electrical and solar works but through this programme, I am good to go. I am already marketing my skill to begin practice,” he remarked.