The National Directorate of Employment (NDE), said on Tuesday in Ilorin that it had trained over 20, 000 youths in Kwara under the different empowerment schemes of the Federal Government.

Mr Albert Timothy, a director in the Ilorin NDE office, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He spoke on the sideline of a stakeholders' meeting on youth development organised by the Kwara Ministry for Sports and Youth Development.

Timothy explained that the directorate trained the youths in agriculture, technical and alternative energy source, and resettled them by providing the necessary working tools for the take-off of the business.

He noted that it was high time Nigerian youths realised that only very few graduates could secure white collar jobs. "Government can no longer provide a white collar job for every graduate. What is left is skill acquisition," he said.

The NDE official said that skill acquisition centres had been set up in each of the three senatorial districts in the state to support the youths in technical and vocational training.

He added that the directorate had mobile workshops at the office and was ready to collaborate with NGOs to empower Nigerian youths.