No fewer than 300 vulnerable youths in the FCT on Monday received various startup kits after an intensive entrepreneurship training facilitated by the Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), an agency of the Catholic Church.
The youth, under JDPC 2023 Youth Entrepreneurship Development and Empowerment Scheme (YEDES), were empowered to be self reliant and create jobs to curb insecurity in the country.
The scope of the scheme includes leather works, fish/poultry farming, App/website designing, fashion designing and catering services.
The startup kits distributed included fabric sewing machines, ovens, gas cylinders, lap tops, tabs, leather sewing machines, feeds and fingerlings.
Some of the beneficiaries who spoke at the ceremony, expressed their gratitude to the commission and its partners while seeking access to market.
Mr Sylvester Abende, a website designer/App developer, said that the skills acquisition scheme had truly changed their lives greatly.
According to him, before now, “we only heard of website design and digital marketing like something in the sky.
“But today, we can not only design website and online platforms for ourselves but have already been designing for our clients also which is already earning huge revenues for us.
“We have now been trained and equipped in the digital space and can now build the biggest website in the world.
“We can now develop On-line Applications and upload on App Stores for people to download and use, corporate branding, social media management and data analysis are all we can now do perfectly well.He called on government and other stakeholders to partner with the commission to reach more youths across the country.
“By the grace of God and also with your support and partnerships, we will continue to be unwavering in our endeavor of improving the lives of our young people and creating value for our nation.
“JDPC invites government’s collaboration and partnership in the delivery of its mandate to efficiently and prudently impact the lives of the vulnerable and underserved in FCT, Abuja,” he said.
The Country Rep of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Mr Akim Kikonda, said that the CRS, as funder of the programme, remained committed to youth development.
He said that the CRS was partnering with the JDPC to create employment for the teaming youths to shield them from poverty and criminal activities.
“We have given you this support to empower you, your family and community; given the result so far seen, we wish to announce that we will be supporting this programme to September 2024.
The JDPC Programme Director, Mr Timothy Ejeh, said the commission trained 100 youths in the first phase of YEDES.
He said the graduating class were 200 youths adding that the target for the next class was 1,000 youths in soft skills like ICT and also in agro-entrepreneurship.
“The bigger vision of the Archbishop, the JDPC and indeed the entire Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja is to set up a multipurpose youth formation centre, where youths can have some respite from the so many troubles they experience in the country.
“May the close-out of the second phase of YEDES mark the beginning of a brighter and more prosperous future for our youths and our beloved Archdiocese,” he said
