By Gbenga Akingbule.
A total of 60 youths were at the weekend handed their employment letters as linesmen after a successful completion of six months of skill acquisition training carried out by the North East Development Commission (NEDC) in collaboration with Mainstream Energy Academy in Kainji, Niger State.
Gatekeepers News reports that the youths were given automatic employment by Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) in charge of the six North Eastern States and will be part of the solution of power problems bedevilling the Region.
This was made known during the graduation ceremony of the sixty graduates held at the NEDC Headquarters in Maiduguri where the youths were admonished to make good use of the opportunity provided to them by the Commission.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Officer of NEDC Alhaji Mohammed Alkali said the gesture was aimed at empowering youths across the region and making them self-reliant.
“When we went round the region with the Board of the Commission, the first challenge we encountered affecting the region was youth unemployment,” Alkali said.
The NEDC Boss added “As the aged workers of the Distribution Company are retiring, we envisioned the need to build the capacity of the youths to take over from them to maintain efficient electricity distribution across the region,” he said.
Habibu Kassim, one of the newly backed linesmen from Bacuchi State commended NEDC and Mainstream Academy for the training and promised to hit the ground running in his new place of assignment.
“We have been given special training as linesmen, I’m ready to contribute my quota to the improved power supply in the North East Region,” Kassim said
