LCCN Empowers About 30,000 Unskilled, Unemployed Youths

By Kissinger Bukar

The Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria, LCCN has set in place machinery to provide skills to about thirty thousand youths in the church who are unskilled and unemployed.

The initiative, which is under the Empowerment of Lutheran Youth Association, is being executed in collaboration with the National Directorate of Employment NDE.

Speaking at a ceremony for grandaunts of the scheme, which was held at the premises of the LCCN Saint Monica Cathedral in Jimeta, the Arch Bishop of LCCN Most Reverend Musa Panti Filibus said more measures will be taken to provide skills to teeming youths in the church.

He explained that Christians should look inward to engage youths positively as white-collar jobs are no longer available, and described the initiative as an alternative to idealness.

The Arch Bishop, who was represented by the Bishop of Yola Diocese of the LCCN, Bishop Theophilus Shadrach, noted with concern the high number of unemployed youths that are idle and challenged the beneficiaries to take advantage of the training to make a difference in their lives.

He stressed that the initiative will further unite members of the section of the LCCN and appealed for more support for the expansion of the initiative.

The State Director of the National Directorate of Employment, Ibrahim Mohammed represented by a director of NDE, Mr. Miwa Lasco, commended the sponsors of the initiative and urged the beneficiaries to be determined to be useful In society.

The Chairperson of the occasion, Professor Helen Ray, who is a lecturer at Moddibo Adama University Yola, urged the beneficiaries to reciprocate with the sacrifices made to provide them with skills.

Professor Helen, pay who donated fifty thousand nairas, noted that white-collar jobs are no longer available adding that character is essential for success in the present dispensation.

In his remark, the Chairman of Empowerment of Lutheran Youth Association, ELYA, Mr. John Orume, said the idea to form a forum of retired permanent secretaries of LCCN extraction was mooted by Mrs. Palmata Ishaya in twenty seventeen and it was registered with Corporate Affairs Commission.

He noted that the event was to celebrate the fifty grandaunts while the objective of the initiative was to encourage youths to explore and pursue skills that will make them self-employed.

Other speakers include a parent, Mrs. Bertha Danladi, and a representative of the beneficiaries, Ayuba Danladi, among others.

The event featured the presentation of starter kits, certificates, and cash to the trainees to enable them to start their businesses.