SURE-P trains 100 graduates in Edo

No fewer than 100 unemployed graduates in Edo State took part in the orientation training for interns and firms’ representatives in Benin, Edo State, at the weekend. The training, under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), was meant to teach interns how things are done in their workplace that could make them step up into owning and managing their own companies and business.


Speaking at the occasion, Executive Director of SURE-P, Peter Papker, said the high unemployment rate in the country was giving the government at the state and federal levels a lot of worry, which was unacceptable.

He regretted that most graduates in the country were unemployed because they were either unemployable or lack work experience, which is one of the criteria employers of labour were asking for.

According to Papker, that is what SURE-P is out to stop, through one of the key components of the Graduate Internship Scheme.

Papker, who was represented by Edward Adole, principal programme analysts for SURE-P, also noted that the thrust of the Graduate Internship Scheme is to bridge the gap between school and labour market.

Programme Director for SURE-P, Edo State, Mike Enahoro, said the Graduate Internship Scheme was a programme for unemployed graduates aged between 18 and 40 years, where they are provided temporary employment. He said, despite the fact that Nigerians are the most enterprising people in the world, the high unemployment rate in the country was unacceptable.

He told the participants not to think of the stipends they are paid during the internship period but the benefits of having work experience, adding, “When you work, you acquire skills and if you must increase your earnings you must increase your learning.”