The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) began a three-month training of 30 youths in waste recycling in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Thursday, August 11, 2022.
The training is in line with its mandate of job creation and poverty reduction.
Mr Nuhu Fikpo, the director-general, said the youths were drawn from the eight local government areas of the state.
He said it focused on environmental problems that could be turned into viable economic returns.
Fikpo was represented by Mr Aham Osuchukwu, Coordinator of the NDE in Bayelsa.
He said that the dearth of white-collar jobs had made members of the society to honour legitimate jobs and not to look down on them.
Fikpo admonished the trainees not to look down on themselves and said the objective of the training was to create employment and reduce the number of idle hands in the state.
He added that it also aimed at checking anti-social behaviours predicated on idleness, and to provide a source of livelihood, cleanliness and good sanitary conditions.
“Some of the waste products that can be recycled include batteries, refrigerators, electronic and electrical parts, such as radio, mobile phones, computer accessories and polythene.
“Others are cans, tyres, used engine oil, filters, scrap metals, papers, disposable bags and florescent bulbs among others,’’ he said.
Fikpo stressed that with dwindling foreign exchange to import goods, a good option would be to recycle used ones and make them useful again.
In her remarks, Mrs Felicia Baite, Head of Department, Special Public Works, NDE in Bayelsa, commended the Federal Government for approving the inward-looking scheme that had turned the once derided skill into a much-desired one.
She also urged participants to take the training seriously and give it their best as it would turn to be a life changer.
By Shedrack Frank
