The Federal Government has revealed that 41,161 graduates have so far benefitted from the Graduates Internship Scheme being coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The Project Director, GIS, Mr. Dennis Chukwu, who made the revelation in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, on Friday, said 68 per cent of the beneficiaries were males, 31 per cent females and one per cent, vulnerable.
He said the government would continue to improve the capacity of the programme to absorb more graduate applicants.
Chukwu, who was represented by an Information Officer, Mrs. Maryam Kayit-Akor, but had his address read by an Assistant Director, GIS, Mr. Vincent Ejemba, said over 35,000 youths had exited from the scheme since its inception about five years ago.
He said thousands of beneficiaries had secured jobs while many had secured credit facilities and grants including YouWIN grant to expand businesses they set up using the GIS stipends.
He equally said some of them had set up cooperative associations, some of which had transformed into small and medium enterprises, noting that rather than seeking jobs, they were now employers of labour.
Chukwu said, “As a government, we can boldly say that the purpose of setting up the GIS, which is to make unemployed graduates employable, is being achieved.
“However, as long as thousands of graduates still remain unemployed, we will continue to improve the capacity of the scheme to absorb more applicants. “It is also my hope that some years down the line, the GIS interns will galvanise different sectors, especially the non-oil sector, which is the new focus of the Nigerian economy.”
In a related development, at another venue of the training in Malto Crystal Hotel, Yenagoa, Mr. Adelose Folorunso, speaking on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Finance and organisers of the scheme, assured the interns that the ministry was doing everything possible to ensure that their allowances were paid.
Folorunso, an Administrative Officer of the GIS, pointed out that the scheme was designed to provide temporary employment for unemployed graduates as well as equip them with skills to make them employable and self-employed.
Folorunso added that there were seven exit training centres in Bayelsa with 50 interns in each batch.
In his remarks, the Lead Consultant, Capstone Educational and Investment Limited, Mr. Abubakar Ahmed, noted that the Federal Government had discovered that graduates from schools were not well packaged enough to either get award-winning jobs or business, hence the establishment of the scheme.
Also, a human development consultancy company, Cees Assist Resources Limited, urged the beneficiaries to take advantage of the programme to better their lots.
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