LAGOS – 02 December 2022 - As part of UNDP’s commitment to promote inclusive economic growth by stimulating skills development, and improving market services, UNDP in partnership with Lagos State Government is supporting job creation and skills development by equipping young people with employable skills, job matching support and equipping vocational training centers to bridge the demand and supply of skilled manpower in Lagos State under the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund.

The Lagos State Employability Support Programme (“LSESP”) is a project designed and sponsored by the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (“LSETF” an entity established to tackle unemployment and enable wealth creation through programmes designed to drive innovation and development within Lagos State) and the United Nations Development Programme (“UNDP” a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth).

Speaking during the ceremony Ms. Teju Abisoye, the Executive Secretary of The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund mentioned that “the testimonials of beneficiaries of the Lagos State Employability Support Programme tells us that we need to do more to support young people to have the required skills. Collaborations and partnership such as this with the United Nations Development Programme can help us make more impact.  She further added that, “at LSETF, we are committed to ensuring the people of Lagos state are empowered with skills that make them employable and meet up with the market demand.”

The Project was created with the main objective of reducing unemployment by bridging the gap in the limited supply of skilled manpower while meeting the growing skilled labour demands of key industry employers. This will alternatively reduce unemployment and increase the pool of skilled employable labour within Lagos State.

The LSESP achieves its core mandate by equipping youth aged between 18-45 years with relevant soft and technical vocational skills that cuts across sectors, including but not limited to; Information Technology, Fashion, Beauty, Hospitality, Construction and Business support.

In line with the programme’s main objective, the several key targets and outputs were agreed by the Programme’s governing council which include:

1. Recruit 2,000 skilled workers within the two-year period to cater for demand in key sectors.
2. Ensure at least 60% of the skilled manpower recruited must be hired in the private sector or have their own businesses setup.
3. Equip, minimum of 15 Vocational Training Centres (“VTC”) in Lagos State with new vocational curricula as well as improved teaching skills for their technical instructors.
4. The project targets the unemployed and under-employed youth with or without skills between the ages 18 to 45 years with special consideration for women and persons living with disabilities.

Key programme activities commenced on 11th December 2020. In the last two years the LSESP has managed to deliver LSESP Training and Monitoring with over 2006 successful applicants trained; LSEP Certification and Job Placement with over 549 employers who participated in the placement/internship scheme and LSEP Beneficiary Engagement and LSESP Training Partners just to mention a few.

According to UNDP Resident Representative, Mr Mohamed Yahya, he said “UNDP is committed to promoting inclusive economic growth by stimulating skills development, improving market services.” Mr. Yahya further added that “UNDP is very proud to have partnered with Lagos State Government to support job creation and skills development by equipping young people with employable skills, and job matching to improve productive capacities of youths and women so that they can increase their chances for gainful employment or economic activity.”

 Overall, the LSESP Project will support to increase the pool of skilled manpower to alleviate the acute shortages of employable labour. The project will improve the quality of vocational training Programmes including but not limited to sectors such as technology, education, health care, construction, creative art, transportation & logistics and business support, update their content to make the labor force technically more competent, strengthen vocational instructor training and improve the capabilities of the participating Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) to plan and manage the training programme.

About UNDP

UNDP is the leading United Nations international development organisation working in 170 countries to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. UNDP helps countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas: sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience.

 UNDP supports the government of Nigeria in the implementation of development interventions aimed at meeting the medium to long term goals and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030.

About Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF)

Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) was established by The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund Law 2016 to provide financial support to residents of Lagos State, for job, wealth creation and to tackle unemployment. For more details visit www.lsetf.ng  

For further information contact:

Clare Henshaw

UNDP National Programmes Specialist

Email: clare.henshaw@undp.org