"It is very necessary to help our youths to grow."

Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State has given out N2 million each to 500 people from the state who were into street hawking in different parts of Nigeria.

Mr Nwifuru gave the money to the beneficiaries at the flagging off of the first batch of the state skills acquisition and empowerment programme on Tuesday in Abakaliki, the state capital.

The governor said his administration was ready to empower residents across the 13 local government areas of the state as a means to tackle unemployment.

He called for an urgent need for skills acquisition, adding that the state Centre for Skills Development was open to the people.

"It is very necessary to help our youths to grow. We have created the skill acquisition development centre for our youths to learn in order to be able to put food on their tables."

Offia Nwali, the state commissioner for Commerce and Industry, said the beneficiaries, who were undergoing training in different skills had been hawking goods in different parts of the country.

"The programme targeted 1,500 Ebonyi indigenes, but we are starting today with 500 for the first batch. So, we are doing it batch by batch.

"The beneficiaries have started receiving their money and the governor has asked anybody that did not get the alert to call him on the phone, beginning from today, Tuesday."