In a bid to reduce the high rate of youth unemployment, the Lagos State Government has launched an internship programme aimed at empowering young graduates to increase their employability skills and create more opportunities for them.
Speaking at the induction programme of the internship scheme on Thursday, June 1, 2017 the Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mr. Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, disclosed that about 250 young graduates were selected for the first batch of the programme.
Eyes Of Lagos gathered that “About 250 beneficiaries have been taken up for internship by our up-takers, who are our partners. They were picked out of the 2,000 we have in the first set,” he said.
The Commissioner added that “we introduced this scheme because we need something to stimulate them to redesign that ecosystem, and that is why we decided as a government to invest in a transparent and inclusive process, and also let them know that this is very competitive.”
During the event, three beneficiaries of the scheme who were particularly outstanding received special preference in job placement and N100, 000 each.
In his remarks, Durosinmi-Etti stated his observation on how employers were usually skeptical about the low employability skills of graduates, hence the decision of the government to introduce the scheme in order to invest in the youths through a very competitive and transparent process.
The commissioner maintained that the programme would be a continuous one, stressing that the partners working with the Ministry are from different sectors with the mandate to accommodate the beneficiaries in order to give them the opportunities to be trained and benefit the organisations.
He noted that this would open opportunities for the interns to either work in those organisations when they complete the three-month internship programme or, acquire skills that could make them entrepreneurs.
“To qualify for the internship programme, beneficiaries must have a first degree or a Higher National Diploma, and must have completed their youth corps service,” Durosinmi-Etti disclosed.
