The Rivers State government has begun the free training of about 900 graduates and other job seekers in the state aimed at making them employable.
Speaking to newsmen on Thursday in Port Harcourt shortly after declaring the three-day training over, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Employment Generation and Empowerment, Mr. Lawson Ikuru, said the training is to give young graduates in the state the confidence to face interview panels.
Ikuru said, “We carried out an assessment and discovered that in most instances, our young graduates do not have the confidence and capacity to present themselves before interview panels. With that understanding, we thought it necessary that we should do thus for them.
“Thanks to His Excellency, Barrister Nyesom Wike, for authorizing the use of this platform and authorizing that we establish a website, Rivjobs.com, where employers of labour and job seekers van registered so as to meet. “The basic essence of this training is to prepare our people to be able to face the challenges.
It is not strictly for Rivers indigenes. It is for residents too. You have to register in the platform; so it is those who registered that are undergoing this training.”
Speaking to newsmen also, one of the trainee, Victoria Macartan, who described the training as very important, said it will help her in security jobs with much stress.
Macartan said; “The programme is very important, it will really help me in the future because I am learning a lot of things.
“I expect to be invited for job interviews after this training since I registered on the platform.” Another trainee, Erim Godwin Tochi, thanked the Rivers State government for embarking on the free training, describing is as first of its kind. Erim said:
“This training is fantastic; I don’t think any state government has done this before in terms of creating this opportunity. What we are lacking as graduates, I must confess is unemployability. Most of us don’t have kind of skills.”
