Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said the ongoing Jobs Initiatives Lagos (JIL) and entrepreneurship skills programme designed for final year students and others is aimed at reducing graduate unemployment and grow young entrepreneurs.
Sanwo-Olu spoke at the Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED), Naforija, Epe, where the JIL programme was launched.
The JIL programme is in partnership with LOFTYINC Allied and Partners.
Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Education, Tokunbo Wahab, said his government, in demonstration of its commitment to entrepreneurship skills development, had built two additional vocational training centres in Badagry and Epe, thus bringing the centres to nine.
The governor enjoined the students to maximise benefits of the initiative and other entrepreneurship programmes to make them become globally competitive.
College Provost Prof. Olajide Onibon said JIL would expose the students to life after school and increase their employability and entrepreneurial skills.
Onibon, who was represented by the Chief Librarian, Dr. Abayomi Imam, noted that the government’s jobs initiatives and skills acquisition programmes were capable of reducing unemployment, while the emergence of young entrepreneurs would help to stabilise the economy and reduce poverty.
Secretary of the College Students’ Union Obafemi Oluwatobi, who spoke for the students, hailed the government and LOFTYINC for the initiative. He added that exposing students to employability skills development programmes such as soft skills, resume writing, work etiquettes, presentation and pitching, corporate e–mail drafting, negotiation skills, interviewing techniques, microsoft skills, business development skills, among others, are life-changing opportunities they would not forget in a hurry.