TheCable

The federal executive council (FEC) has approved N5.5 billion for the training of 60,000 unemployed youth in the country.

The contract, under the N-Power social intervention programme, is aimed at training 12,000 youth between the ages of 18 and 25.

Udoma Udoma, minister of budget and national planning, disclosed this to state house correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting  on Wednesday.

According to the minister, the 12,000 youth will in turn be empowered to train five youth each, bringing the total beneficiaries to 60,000.

“Each of the 12,000 beneficiaries will train five others, making a total of 60,000. The idea is to make our youth entrepreneurs, employing others,” he said.

Udoma said the youth would be selected from the six geo-political zones of the country

He said the programme was open to all unemployed youth, irrespective of their educational background.

He added that the training which will last for nine months, will enable the beneficiaries assemble, repair and maintain electronic products such as mobile phones, competing devices, among others.

He said the training of each of the beneficiaries, tagged “N-power knowledge multi track youth empowerment programme” will cost, N259,000, while they would also be given N207, 000 each for the tools needed.