Nyok|3 May 2019
The Cross River State Government in partnership with the World Bank assisted Youth Employment and Social Support Operation(YESSO), have signed up yet another 5,000 unemployed youths of the State to benefit from the programme.
It would be recalled that the YESSO programme had earlier signed up 5,000 young persons in the State who had undergone various type of skills acquisition training and are currently being paid stipends.
Speaking at the signing up ceremony for the current batch of enrollees on Thursday in Calabar, the Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Cross River State, Comrade Asu Okang, whose Ministry oversees the YESSO programme, said the enrollment was the result of the Ministry's efforts and the support of the State Governor, Senator Ben Ayade in creating viable means of engaging the youths.
The Commissioner thanked staff of the Ministry for what they have been able to achieved collectively as a team under his four years at the helm of affairs.
He however urged them to keep up with the team spirit even while he may no longer hold sway.
"We are pleased to inform you that we have another 5'000 young people for the YESSO programme, through the efforts of this team and with the support of his Excellency and also in keeping with his vision for the engagement of young people and expansion of government to make it more inclusive for the youths.", Okang said.
Giving details about the YESSO Programme, the State Coordinator, Mr Balinwo Ofegobi, said Cross River is the only State in the South South to flag off the programme.
While noting that YESSO is not a project, but a Youth Employment and Social Support Operation, Ofageme explained that the state was able to attract it because of the social intervention policies such as Project Hope and Project Comfort that were already put in place by the State Government.
He said: "YESSO is one programme that every state has paid to sign on. It is not a project. It's an operation. The World Bank only comes in to assist you with funding for what you have been doing. The state has other projects such as Project Hope and Project Comfort. It was through these projects we were able to ride into YESSO.
"YESSO is not an employment agency. Our duty is to get our youths and women to do some work for themselves and we pay them for that. We are trying to create a social protection framework for the state. We use scientific ways recognized by the World Bank to choose poor and vulnerable people from our communities. We have cash transfer and skills for jobs as components of YESSO."
The Coordinator also announced that a new programme called "Special Grant Transfer" meant to cater for people aged 65 and above would soon come on stream. He further disclosed that the YESSO programme aims to enroll 22,000 beneficiaries within two weeks.
