Grants
By Olayinka Olawale
Lagos, May 23, 2018 (NAN) Mr Adewole Adeniran, the Provost, Federal Training Centre, Lagos, has appealed to the Federal Government to set up a commission to give start-up grants to unemployed graduates in the country.
Adeniran told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, in Lagos that the grants would reduce the number of unemployed youths.
He said the grants would assist graduates to establish small businesses from the various entrepreneurial trainings they received while in school.
The provost said that the grants should be set up at the grassroots to make it accessible by the teeming unemployed youths in the country.
Adeniran said the Bank of Industry, (BoI) did not have the resources to go round the huge number of unemployed youths, hence, the importance of the commission.
According to him, entrepreneurial education is good at the tertiary education level because it would enable students to learn trade outside their disciplines.
He said: “The technical and vocational training is like a backup for graduates, but without start-up capital or grants many of them find it difficult to make a living.
“All over the world, governments give support to it citizens, especially the youth to become self-reliant and also contribute to the development of the country.
“The Federal Government must put in place a commission to oversee the disbursement of grants or loans to various beneficiaries and also facilitate their repayment.
“We are turning out graduates but we do not have commensurate employment for them,’’ he noted.
Adeniran urged the government to increase funding and budgetary allocation up to the 26 per cent recommendation by UNESCO for the education sector. (NAN)
OOG/JTJ/PDE
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(Edited by Julius Toba Jegede/Peter Ejiofor)