The Bayelsa Government says it has trained no fewer than 5,633 youths in various skills since the inception of Gov. Seriake Dickson administration in 2012.
Mr Collins Cocordia, Bayelsa Commissioner for Youth Development, said this on Friday at the on-going Inter-Ministerial and Agencies’ briefing in Yenagoa.
The briefing was part of activities to mark Dickson’s six years in office come Feb. 14.
The briefing tagged, “Restoration Government at Six: Our Score Card in Focus”, started on Jan. 22 and would end on Feb. 9.
Cocordia explained that about 40 members of the National Youth Corps (NYSC) were also trained in different professional skills in the state.
He said the training was carried out in collaboration with other agencies both at the national and international level.
On the cost of training, the Commissioner said that the government had invested huge resources to ensure that people of the state were empowered.
“The state government spends between N1.5 and N2 million to train a youth in professional skills.
“Since we came on board, about 1, 000 persons were trained in partnership with the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Small and Medium Enterprises’ Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), and Bank of Industry (BoI) for three months.
“More than 150 were trained at the International Institute of Tourism and Hospitality on different skills, including GSM telephone repair for four months.
“Also about 627 youths were also trained in a programme tagged “Catch Them Young through Skills Acquisition” in science and technology.
“We have had series of training progrmmes to empower and develop the youth; similarly we have sent some to different parts of the world for training.
“In this 2018, we hope to train many youths on solar energy in partnership with a German based company on other skills such as diving, flight dispatch, and fire fighting among others,” the commissioner said.
