Nigerian Government To Spend N6Billion On Training Kano Youths To Repair Smartphones, Gain Other Skills

Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq

The government of NIgeria has said it will spend N5.9 billion to train youths in Kano on how to repair smartphones, among other skill acquisition opportunities.

The Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, described it as part of a comprehensive campaign to provide job opportunities and eradicate poverty, NAN reports.

The minister stated this during the N-Skill Training trainees’ graduation on smartphone repairs on Wednesday in Kano.

Umar-Farouq said the government would provide the graduates with tools to set up their businesses, listing such items as soldering irons, digital multimeters, precision screwdrivers, repair toolkits and magnifying lamps.

Farouq said the programme demonstrated President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts at addressing youth unemployment.

She explained that the programme demonstrated the commitment to collectively address youth unemployment in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts to reduce poverty in Nigeria.

Represented by Special Assistant to the President on Social Investment, Nasir Mahmoud, she explained that the programme accommodated many skills-based enterprises.

She noted that the graduate and non-graduate components of the N-Power programme had been expanded to provide job opportunities for 16,629 unemployed youths in Kano under the Batch C.

The minister added that this followed the successfully exiting of 18,042 youths under Batches A and B.

“The federal government is investing over N5.9 billion for the training, tooling and/or payment of monthly stipends on the Batch C beneficiaries. This is a tremendous direct injection of resources at the grassroots and in the hands of youths,” she disclosed. 

She also mentioned that smartphone repairs were used to pilot the programme under the N-Power non-graduate component targeted at “lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.”