According to the Lagos State Government, 4,000 unemployed graduates will be paid N40,000 per month for the next six months.
Mrs Yetunde Arobieke, the Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, announced this on Wednesday during the 2021 Ministerial Press Briefing to commemorate Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second year in office.
Arobieke stated that this was done through the ministry’s Graduate Internship Placement Programme (GIPP), which was designed to address the issue of unemployment among unemployed graduates in Lagos State.
According to her, the initiative will provide interns with the opportunity to excel and possibly learn a job with the organization by exposing them to professional skills and interpersonal relationships in a structured setting.
She stated that the program would expose interns to potential entrepreneurial opportunities and provide graduates with employability skills and exposure to today’s work environment.
The GIPP is meant to assist Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and other companies to choose from the state’s database of groomed talent/interns, to enhance productivity and boost their businesses, thereby, promoting economic growth at no cost through the intervention of the state government.
”A total of 51,514 graduates applied for the internship online, over 1,932 companies indicated interest to onboard the interns after their trainings and 4,736 applicants attempted the online Assessment Test.
”About 1,000 candidates who scored a minimum of 60 per cent were invited for the first tranche of the employability skills training, while 4,000 interns are targeted to be placed on a monthly stipend of N40,000 for six months.
”You will agree with me that the state government under Sanwo-Olu is leaving no stone unturned in mitigating the unemployment scourge,” Arobieke said.
According to her, observations have shown that the number of unemployed youths seeking employment and particularly, white collar jobs outnumbers the vacancies required to be filled.
”Hence, the need for reorientation of the mindset of the job seekers to imbibe learning vocational and technical skills to be self-employed.
”The 2020 edition of this programme had 2,163 unemployed youths that participated in the webinar with seasoned practitioners in various fields or areas of specialisations as facilitators,” she said.