Not less than 75 beneficiaries have commenced six months internship under the EdoJobs Graduate Internship and Apprenticeship scheme, an initiative of Governor Godwin Obaseki to provide graduates with relevant practical skills and industry-based experience.
Speaking to journalists at an orientation programme organised for the interns at the Edo Innovation Hub, in Benin City, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Jobs Creation and Skills Development, Ukinebo Dare, said besides the long-term plan, the scheme is expected to bridge the job experience gap of graduates, even as they search for other job opportunities.
Dare noted, “We have been able to find organisations who are in search of graduate interns. One major criteria we look out for in these organisations is the capacity to grow to absorb the interns at the completion of the six-month internship. Having the right manpower is one key success factor for organisations.”
“Edo State Government will provide funding for the internship as the interns work for six months to gain relevant experience in these organisations,” she added.
Dare explained that the 75 beneficiaries in the second batch of the scheme have been deployed to different organisations, which include those in the public and private sectors, where the graduates are expected to gain relevant experience with the possibility of being fully employed at the end of the scheme.
She said the scheme is also for non-graduates, who are being deployed as apprentices to learn new skills and with the opportunity of being absorbed by the organisation where they work.
One of the graduate interns, Vivian Oriere, a graduate of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, commended the state governor on the scheme, describing him as kind-hearted.
