Strategies Put in Place for Combating Unemployment in Southwestern Nigeria: Rural Employment Promotion Programmes of National Directorate of Employment

Abstract

The study examined the strategies of the National Directorate of Employment in combating mass unemployment in Southwestern Nigeria.
The Directorate uses training as a vehicle for stimulating youth interest in taking agriculture as a vocation and discovering agricultural value-chain business possibilities that may lead to the development of jobs and wealth so also the settlement of beneficiaries already trained to start small-scale agro-allied and agro-based ventures yet the challenge of unemployment seem not to be abated Following its instruction, NDE was tasked with creating and implementing programs to combat unemployment as well as articulating strategies for creating work programs with labor-intensive capacities, (FRN, 2004)
In line with the NDE’s mandate to impart skills to the unskilled, the target audience in all the schemes is mainly the unskilled with various levels of educational background including:
• School leavers;
• Graduates of tertiary institutions;
• Retired or retiring Persons;
• People with special needs including the vulnerable, physically challenged, etc.
Their programme execution involves the state offices led by state coordinators. Apart from that, the NDE’s programmes are primarily carried out within budgetary constraints. This is supplemented by collaborative activities such as those outlined in the NDE Act. National and international donor agencies, faith-based and non-governmental organizations, and community-based petitions are among the targets of such attempts. Collaboration with National Assembly members in the execution of constituency initiatives is a relatively recent concept. Because these joint initiatives, particularly those with NASS members, are driven by need, they are effective ways of transmitting skills at the local level.