Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment has inducted the first batch of 500 graduates to its three-month paid Internship Programme for unemployed graduates in the state.

Speaking at the Induction Ceremony, the State Commissioner, Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Mr. Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, said the internship programme was designed to provide unique opportunities for unemployed graduates in the state towards enhancing the formal education they acquired and enable them to earn first-hand workplace experience to earn them jobs or make them entrepreneurs.

Durosinmi-Etti informed that lack of potential opportunities, the absence of mentorship and unwillingness of the private sector to employ youths because of the low employability skills of the graduates was discovered to be part of the problems unemployed graduates face with securing a job.

He said the present administration initiated the programme in a bid to tackle these problems and expose the interns to a particular job, profession and industry.

In his words, “As a ministry, it was discovered that formal education forms 30% of what is required to face the challenges of securing a job; the remaining 70% cuts across cognitive values and gender. This will assist in building up the employability skills of our youths, this is the first batch and the next batch of 500 will be coming up at a later date.”

Durosinmi-Etti added that at the end of the three-month paid internship programme some of the interns might secure a job in the organisation where they were deployed or decide to become an employer of labor through the assistance of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund created to help entrepreneurs and tackle unemployment.

The commissioner advised the interns to take advantage of the opportunity, saying: “Don’t look at the N25,000 monthly token that you will be getting from the State Government and the counter contribution from the off-takers, but what you will take away from the opportunity. The acquired experience can be used to harness your potentials and opportunities ahead of you.”

In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Dr. Yakub Bashorun, disclosed that the objective of the programme is to give opportunity to interns for possible placement in the organisation to which they are deployed, improve on their network of contacts and build their skills while on internship.

He charged them to conduct themselves as worthy ambassadors of the state as their monthly stipends will be based on reports received from the consulting firms monitoring the programme. He also assured all the organisations that Interns coming to their respective organisations have been screened for good behaviour.

The Managing Director of Mactay Consulting Firm, Mrs. Elizabeth Rotimi, in her goodwill address, told the Interns not to see the programme as a political gain but rather embrace the opportunity given to them by the State Government to change their destiny for the best. She added that the selection process was void of ambiguities, as a reputable consulting firm was engaged for the entire exercise.

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