PROTOCOL
1.One of the major themes I campaigned on was the urgency in providing gainful employment opportunities for our teeming youths. This is in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on poverty reduction.
2.At the Appreciation/Engagement Rally I held about a month ago to honour our youths, I had, while unveiling my Charter with the Youths of Akwa Ibom State, stated that we would set up an Employment portal to harvest the employment opportunities for our teeming youths. I had also promised a number of empowerment schemes to appreciate the youths for freely following our leadership and for refusing to participate in the protest planned at that time.
3.Today, I am pleased and happy to launch that employment Portal: The Arise Youth Employment Portal, where job opportunities would be segmented according to skills-set
4.With the launch of this Arise Youths Employment Portal, all employers of labour in the State are to utilize this portal for their employment opportunities, from jobs in the Civil Service to those within the private sector.
5.Akwa Ibom State, I must add, has some of the most talented youths with marketable skill -sets in the nation—from artisans, to ICT, to fashion, chefs, and to the highly skilled professionals across sectors. I urge those in the private sector, especially those who do business with our State Government, to utilize this portal.
6.The Ministry of Labour and Manpower Planning will work closely with all involved to ensure the effective utilization of this portal. This portal is a One-stop Site, where everything relating to employment will be handled—from the job opportunities that will be regularly posted, those in the Civil Service, to the private sector. From the Computer Aptitude and usage or application test, especially for prospective civil servants, everything would be done here.
7.We will soon inaugurate the State Labour Committee to monitor employment opportunities and ensure transparency and fairness in the process of employment, as well as working with the private sector to ensure they partner with us to reduce unemployment among our youths. We will also soon inaugurate the Akwa Ibom State Bureau of Statistics so we can have verifiable and authentic data on a wide range of areas of government’s intervention, especially employment.
8.Let me also mention here that the job opportunities such as the almost 200 Health/Safety Monitors we intend to engage as well as the 3,000 youths to be employed for Ibom Community Watch (ICW) will be harvested from this portal.
9.Also, the various empowerment schemes I had announced during the Youths Rally, such as the Youths Business Support, the Arise Entrepreneurial Support, Bursary/Educational Grants, etc., will also be handled or harvested from this portal, and I urge our youths to visit this site regularly.
10.We came to serve, to improve the living and material circumstance of our people, and as long as I remain your Governor, we will work to provide food on the table for our people. That is why we are also undertaking several entrepreneurial and skills acquisition schemes. As we speak, over 200 of our youths are undertaking training in several skills that would make them employable or enable them to set up Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, at the Dakkada Skills Aquisirion Centre ( DASAC), which we are committed to supporting through the Business Support Schemes.
11.Let me finally thank the SSA on ICT, Dr. Frank Ekpenyong, and his team for working painstakingly to interpret our vision with this Portal.
12.It is therefore, my happiness to launch this Arise Youths Employment Portal and dedicate it to the Youths of Akwa Ibom State, who have shown great fidelity and understanding with us, as we work to create a future that will guarantee happiness and fulfillment for them and generations yet unborn.
Thank you, and God bless us all!
