The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) has intensified efforts to bridge the gap between employability training and actual job placement, bringing together more than 300 young Lagosians and prospective employers at a recruitment fair organised through its partnership with Kings Trust International (KTI) and implemented by the Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL).
The initiative, held under the LSETF–KTI Employability Support Project, is designed to equip young people with practical skills needed to navigate the labour market while creating direct pathways to employment.
Speaking at the Get Hired Recruitment Fair and Graduation Event, held recently at Stella Hall, Ikosi Road, Lagos, the Executive Secretary of LSETF, Feyisayo Alayande, represented by the Director of Programmes and Coordination, Oyindamola Egbeyemi, said the programme reflects the Agency’s broader strategy of tackling unemployment by expanding young people’s access to opportunities.
She noted that the challenge facing many young Lagosians is often not a lack of talent or ambition, but limited access to quality training, professional networks, and employers.
“That is what access does. It removes the distance between ambition and achievement. It turns preparation into confidence, confidence into performance, and performance into real economic participation,” she said.
Egbeyemi highlighted LSETF’s achievements over the past decade, including the creation of more than 320,000 direct and indirect jobs, the preservation of 173,000 jobs, and the disbursement of over ₦15 billion through more than 20,000 loans to MSMEs. She added that the Fund has supported over 82,000 small businesses through capacity building, trained more than 30,000 young people, supported over 1,200 technology startups, and developed 3,300 talents through Lagos Innovates.
She urged employers participating in the fair to look beyond immediate vacancies and view the beneficiaries as part of an emerging talent pool capable of contributing to business growth and the wider Lagos economy. She also encouraged participants to approach the recruitment exercise with confidence and demonstrate the skills acquired during the programme.
LSETF Employability Project Officer, Ajibola Babalola, explained that the focus of the project is no longer only on training young people but on ensuring that acquired skills are translated into real employment opportunities.
According to her, the project targets 3,000 young people across Lagos between 2024 and 2027. The first cycle has already empowered over 800 beneficiaries, while the second cycle is targeting more than 1,000 young people.
Babalola said the programme has two major interventions: Get Into, which focuses on vocational and technical skills, and Get Hired, which equips participants with soft skills and other competencies required to secure and retain employment. She disclosed that the latest Get Hired cohort onboarded more than 300 young people, who completed a four-week blended training programme combining online learning with intensive physical sessions.
“Today is the job fair, the climax of the programme, where our trained young people meet with employers with vacancies,” she said.
Participants received training in CV writing, interview preparation, self-presentation, and other employability skills, while one-on-one coaching sessions were provided to improve their chances of securing jobs.
Babalola expressed optimism that the recruitment fair would lead to meaningful employment placements, noting that employers were matched with participants based on their skills and sectors.
The LSETF–KTI Employability Support Project continues to demonstrate LSETF’s commitment to creating sustainable pathways to employment and ensuring that young Lagosians are not only trained, but also connected to real economic opportunities.
