APPLICATIONS OF THE STRATEGIES OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT SCHEMES IN ONDO STATE OF NIGERIA: HOW EFFECTIVE HAS IT BEEN?

Abstract

Government introduced the youth empowerment schemes through which youths can acquire various entrepreneurial and vocational skills and thereafter engage in meaningful economic activities. However, since the introduction of the scheme, the problems facing the youths in Ondo State still persists. It is in view of this that the study investigated the strategies put in place to implement the youth empowerment schemes in Ondo State in order to determine their level of effectiveness in the course of implementing the scheme. Copies of questionnaire were administered to the beneficiaries and staffs of the youth empowerment schemes in Ondo State while members of staffs of the coordinating ministries and departments were further interviewed. Findings revealed that the ministries of youth and sports, adult, technical and vocational education, departments of youth development and that of vocational education, creation of vocational training centers and micro credit agencies, a defined method of selecting beneficiaries and supervision of the scheme were the strategies adopted to ensure a proper implementation of the scheme. Findings further revealed that the strategies were very effective at the early years of implementation but over the years, due to dwindling financial resources and support from stakeholders, the level of effectiveness of these strategies are no longer encouraging, hence, the scheme is said to be facing a lot of challenges in recent times.