Buoyed by its ranking as the second on the ladder of states where unemployment problem is not pronounced, the Kwara State government has approved another N45 million for youths empowerment.

The rating was done by the National Bureau of Statistics, Abuja.

The beneficiaries of the government's largesse are some 150 youths who had completed entrepreneurial training at the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete.

The N45 million earmarked for the youth entrepreneurs will be drawn from the N100 million allocated for the promotion of Small and Medium Scale enterprises in this year's budget.

The loan which is a revolving one, is being doled out to enable the beneficiaries start their own businesses and become employers of labour.

The government had in 2012 voted a whopping sum of N250 million for SMEs. A total of 28,000 people who formed themselves into cooperative societies benefitted from the scheme.

Upon completion of their training at KWASU, the 150 unemployed graduate youth were formed into three cooperative groups to make it easy for them to access the soft loans from the designated banks.

The certificates of their cooperative societies were recently presented to them at a colourful ceremony at the conference hall of the state's ministry of Commerce and Cooperatives, Ilorin.

It was praises galore for the state governor, Alh. Abdulfatah Ahmed by the beneficiaries and their trainers.

The event was graced by the commissioner for Commerce and Cooperatives, Alh. Mohammed Raji, Senior Special Assistant on Media, Dr Muideen Akorede and Special Assistant on Youth Employment, Malam Babatunde Saka.

Speaking during the presentation of cooperative certificates and the financial empowerment to the youths, the commissioner for Commerce and Co-operatives, Alhaji Mohammed Raji, said the youth empowerment scheme was part of strategy designed to reduce poverty and create wealth among people in the state.

Raji, who said the youth were trained on financial management, opportunity identification and customer relations under the entrepreneurial programme of the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete for four weeks, added that the 150 youth were later clustered into three registered cooperative societies to give them access to bank loans.

The commissioner, who said that government cannot absorb all its graduate youth into the civil service, added that the entrepreneurial training had equipped the youth to become job creators rather than job seekers.

Also speaking, director, Entrepreneurship Centre, KWASU, Dr Muritala Awodun, said the Centre would monitor the youth for 12 months in their various ventures in order to see to their growth and development.

Awodun said the entrepreneurial training was normally a five-semester training programme but was collapsed into four weeks programme for the youths.

 As a result of the training, the youth have been able to identify what business venture they want to pursue. They can also be able to stand on their own and nurture their businesses to maturity together with likely challenges they may face , he said.

He advised the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the training and financial empowerment package and not to see it as a share of national cake but as capital to set up a legacy.

In his remarks, the Special Assistant on Youth Employment, Malam Babatunde Saka said that the government seized the initiative in the realisation of the fact that the much sought after white collar jobs are no longer available.

He assured Kwarans of the preparedness of the government to continue to open windows of job opportunities for those willing to be self - reliant and wealth creators.

He advised the beneficiaries to ensure a judicious utilisation of the loan.

A representative of the beneficiaries of the loan scheme, Aderin Dolapo thanked Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed for his kind gesture and promised to justify the confidence reposed in them.