GAP: NDE Engages 50 Graduates in Nasarawa

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE), says it has engaged 50 graduates in Nasarawa State under the Graduate Attachment Programme (GAP) of the agency.
Alhaji Dauda Idris-Wase, the state’s Coordinator of the Directorate, stated this at the inauguration of the Orientation Exercise for the 50 participants of the GAP programme in Lafia on Wednesday.
Idris-Wase said the GAP was to assist fresh graduates of tertiary institutions to undergo tutelage and to provide them with transient jobs.
He said the orientation exercise was to expose the participants with proper insights not only on the code of conduct of the GAP and NDE’s expectations, but also on the immense benefits of their participation.
The Coordinator noted that GAP was essentially a stop-gap programme that gave transient employment to graduates who completed their one-year mandatory NYSC scheme.
According to him, it is pertinent to point out that the 50 beneficiaries are part of the 1,850 participants engaged for the scheme nationwide by the Directorate.
“Each of the participants will be paid through his or her bank account, a monthly stipend of N15,000 during the three months attachment period. The graduates are posted to public and private organisations relevant to what they studied in school. The resultant effects are threefold: to improve the employability of the graduates, close the skills gaps and build a competent workforce. The outcome of participation in GAP is, therefore, to confer a competitive edge to talents for their retention in the organisations where they serve since the exposure allows the employers a full assessment of the intern’s job  potentials”.
Idris-Wase urged the participants to take the programme with the seriousness it deserved in their interest and for the overall development of the country.
In their separate remarks, Sen. Godiya Akwashiki, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity, and Engr. Bala Usman, Controller, Federal Ministry of Works, Lafia, lauded the Federal Government’s initiative aimed at tackling unemployment and restiveness in the country.
Akwashiki, represented by his Special Assistant, Umar Dandaura, urged the participants to be up and doing, to enhance chances of their retention by the employers.
Mr Isaac P. Anzaku, one of the participants, thanked the NDE for the gesture and promised to be a good ambassador of the scheme.