MIMIKO AND HIS YOUNG BAKERS

    Beaming with great enthusiasm about the new found passion, Ayodeji, a young soon to be entrepreneur rattled in the air for anyone to hear how he would make a future a fortune out of the bread making business he is into. He, like many other unemployed Nigerians have stayed endlessly waiting for a miracle of a white collar job but decided to key into the entrepreneurial attachment training programme put in place by the Ondo State government through the Ministry of Employment and productivity.
   
      Just like any other nations of the world, unemployment has been a great problem that one tends to wonder how a great menace of this type will be tackled. The governor Mimilko led administration in its giant stride has decided to partner with the Artisans to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youths in the state.

     Recently, the apprenticeship attachment training programme was flagged off in Akure in different trades and vocations primarily to help the young people put their energy in something productive. The attachment training programme in bakery is the first of its kind in the history of the unemployed youths and the artisans in the state.

     The programme is scheduled to run for six months. During this period, the young bakers are to be trained in the intricacies of the baking jobs in order for the young them to be self reliant. According to the Chairman of Ondo State Bakers Association, Alhaji Musibau Iyiola, believes that all the 100 trainees under the scheme would so much interested in the trade that they would make it a lifelong full time job.

      Amodeni Adedayo, a graduate of civil Engineering of Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife believes that it is a great privilege to be chosen to participate in the training programme. He has been working tirelessly everyday to get the best out of the programme. In a chat with him, he mentioned that he used to work in Port Harcourt but after the expiration of the contract job, he did not have any choice but to return to Ondo State to look for opportunity. The only opportunity that seems to be available to him was the bakery trade and more so, there is no bakery in the whole of his town which he presently still resides in. he sees it as an opportunity to be the first person to come up with a bakery in iju-itaogbolu.  Having looked for a job endlessly, he believes that to curb the menace of unemployment, the youth of today must move into skill acquisition. Amodeni said beside the setting them up in the next six months what attracted him most to the programme is the fact that the government is not just training them alone, they are being paid a token of #10,000 per month to cater for their feeding and transport expenses  before they become  master of the trade. Ademola  reiterated that the present administration is showing them how to fish rather than give them fish to eat. He sees himself as a potential baker who will serve his community for many years and come and a provider of jobs.

       Ige Awe Isaac, a primary six school, leaver who was a part time driver got to know about the programme through a friend who had listened to the advertisement on the radio. Although the friend doubted the authenticity of the advert because he believed government don’t do things for free. He decided to take a leap of faith by coming to the Ministry of Employment of Productivity where he obtained the form free of charge. Two weeks later, he was called for and here he is today, learning to be a baker. Isaac said he thanked his star for doubting his friend because today he is better for it. In just one month, he has learned so much that he could not have done that sitting that at home. He implored all young people wasting away at home to key into the skill acquisition programme to make Ondo State and Nigeria a better place.

      Oyetayo Oyebola, a young mother of six months, and a graduate of business Administration who recently moved down to Ondo state as a result of   her marriage to a man that lives in the state.    decided to key into the program because she was bored  of doing nothing at home as a result of unemployment having left her job in Lagos State. She comes to the bakery everyday to tap out of the training programme. Despite the young age of the baby, she is not deterred; she said she is in the training to win because she can own her own bakery one day. She said by the grace of God, she would try and set up on her own in the nearest future. She announced that nobody forced her to key into the programme she decided to do it on her own. When asked if she would be able to cope as a result of her gender, she reiterated that anything worth doing at all is worth doing well and what a man can do, a woman can do it best.

       Ayodeji Ajayi, a graduate of Accounting of University of Ado Ekiti in Ekiti State said he has been a cement trader all his life. He could not continue with trade because he uses the money for his personal upkeep and he realized that business cannot thrive in such a situation. It was an answered prayer when he got to know about the training. He said it has been his dream and ambition to own a bakery. He commended the effort of the Ondo State Governor for trying to make the young people self-reliant. Ayodeji said he grew up in Akure, in his 30 years of residence, he has never seen a government that is closer to the people as the present administration. He urged the Governor not to relent its effort at making life simple and affordable for the people. He appealed to the young people outside who are roaming about searching for elusive white collar jobs to enroll for a programme like this to save them time.

       These are just few out of the 100 young able bodied young men and women that the Governor Mimiko’s Administration has given direction and hope to their lives. These young and talented people are looking forward to a life more productive and worthwhile. This apprenticeship attachment training programme has put a ray of hope into their future which used to be devoid of such before they decided to be part of the programme. They are now looking forward to the day they will graduate from the programme and be set up on their own.

       In the advanced nations of the world, the artisan are indeed the movers and the shakers of the economy, they determine how many jobs will be created and how many will be lost. The present Administration recognizes this fact and has decided to train the artisans to be master of their trade. Through the Ministry of Employment and Productivity, in a way to encourage the Artisans is planning to train the artisans on their on trade so they could compete with the other artisans in and out of the country. According to Governor Mimiko, he believes that the best product must come from Ondo State, in terms of goods and services; it has to be the state of the art.

       Questions have been raised on what is going to be the lots of the trainers after the training programme, according to some people that has been how some government have been training and dumping the trainees without any notable plans to set them up.

       The Ondo state government in partnership with National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND) is doling out 1 billion naira loan to artisans and entrepreneurs in the state to held in jacking up there entrepreneurial development. These young trainees are not going to be left out, they will  be clustered into groups to be able to access this loan to enable them start up their business and also create jobs for the unemployed youths.  The attraction in this training programme is not just to provide job for one person but for 2-3 other people added to themselves.

      In the real sense, empowering a person in bakery is like empowering 10 people at a time. It can be translated to mean that, in a bakery, a driver, two mixers, 2 pan cleaners, a flour grinder, two flour cutters, a marketer and a gateman would be needed to get a bakery going. Getting these young entrepreneurs productive would not only put food on their table alone but on the table of 10-15 other people at a time.

      The Ministry of Employment and Productivity is not just stopping in Bakery, the ministry is bringing people in confectionaries and event management, Almanco and roofing business, POP and paving stone.

     The fact is this avenue for employment generation could be as big as the people who are taking the bull by the horn by going into it. Unemployment will remain a problem, the only difference after many year is how the youths have helped themselves by creating jobs for themselves and for other people. This empowerment has come to stay because it will forever touch the lives of people.



Bisi Lawani
Ministry of Employment and Productivity