The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM, has commenced a four day training programme for Nigerian returnees from Lebanon, Libya and victims of Xenophobic Attack in South Africa in 2019.
The training is in partnership with Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, SMEDAN is set to empower some of the returnees with some certain vocational and Entrepreneurship skills.
A Statement on the social media platform of NIDCOM said the programme will also provide them with hardware equipments to kick-off artisanship considering the fact that most of them came back home empty-handed after losing their businesses and properties to the attack .
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NIDCOM Chairman, Abike Dabiri-Erewa in her Keynote speech delivered by Mr Akanbi Abiodun, advised the participants not to despise the period of little beginnings, stating that the modern-day equipment SMEDAN will hand-out to them at the end of the training must be treated as a poverty defying tool.
Also Speaking, Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, DG of SMEDAN and Chairman of SMEDAN board/former Deputy Governor of Lagos, Otunba Femi Pedro thanked NIDCOM for the enormous contributions towards the actualization of the training/ skills acquisition programme.
The SMEDAN Officials further lauded NIDCOM under the leadership of Hon. Abike Erewa for helping in de-populating Nigeria’s unemployment market and simultaneously bringing into Nigeria, Diaspora market in areas of critical sector investments, skills/knowledge transfer,Diaspora settlement assistance and most recently, the Diaspora fund initiative.
The empowerment programme is ongoing concurrently in eleven states of the Federation, namely: Lagos, Ekiti, Adamawa, Katsina, Ebonyi, Delta, Rivers, kwara, Niger, Zamfara and Bauchi state.