BRIC trains 6,000 youth in Yobe

Building Resilience in Complex Crisis (BRIC), a project run by a consortium of three Non-Governmental Organisations have empowered 6,000 youth in Yobe state.

The Programme Director of the consortium, Mr. Freeman Mulaya, said the project had so far trained 6,000 youths in various vocational skills which include iron works, tailoring, cap making, groundnut oil extraction among others.

“We are happy today to have trained over 6,000 youth as a consortium. 50% of those youths were given their start-up pack kids to start up their business.”, Mulaya said.

He explained that the consortium included Mercy Corps, Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and Cooperazione International (COOPI).

He also noted that the programme succeeded with the support of Yobe state government and National Directorate of employment (NDE) and other Government Agencies in the state.

Also speaking, Christiana Andrius Odeh, the Economic Reiteration Officer, COOPI explained the number of youth trained by COOPI alone.

“We have actually trained about 2,820 participants in Geidam and Yunusari local government areas.

“We gave out start-up capital for 2,100 youth to start their own business, after months of training and vocational skills from different field of specialisations.

“We selected those that did well and gave them their cash grants.”, Odeh said.

In his remarks, Mr. John Koji, Yobe State Coordinator, NDE, said his organisation supported the project by providing facilitators to train the beneficiaries.

He commended the participants for their dedication and cooperation throughout the training period.

He added that the gesture would boost the economy of the state and the country at large.

Bulama Modu, learnt cap making, said before his enrollment for the empowerment, he was jobless.

He therefore commended the consortium for changing his life, saying the gesture would transform his economic condition.