No few than 255 youths benefited and graduated from the training organised by Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in collaboration with the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) nine vocational programmes.
The youths were trained in Hospitality and Tourism, Mobile Phone Repairs and Troubleshooting, Information and Communication Technology and Electrical/Electronic Technology.
Other focus areas of training included Industrial Automation and Mechatronics, Instrumentation and Process Control, Mechanical Services & Maintenance, Residential Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Maintenance and Building Technology.
The Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote spoke at the graduation ceremony in Abuja recently and explained that the training was carried out as part of the Board’s 10-year strategic roadmap, which targets among other things to create 300,000 direct and indirect employment for Nigerians and drive Human Capacity Development to boost the Nigerian economy.
Represented by the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, NCDMB, Mr. Patrick Daziba Obah, the Executive Secretary stated that the Board had trained over 10,000 youths and committed over 9 million manhours in the training, with the firm understanding that exposing youths to skill acquisition programmes will provide them with the necessary skills required to support activities in the Nigerian oil and gas sector and the wider economy.
He stressed that the training programme confirmed the commitment of the Federal Government to improve the country’s economy by equipping youths with the requisite skills for entrepreneurship, especially now that the world is facing a global pandemic.
The NCDMB boss also indicated that the training programme was designed to “address gaps in vocational and entrepreneurship skills among Nigerian youths, drive self-employment and value creation in the oil and gas industry and linkage sectors, address youths redundancy and loss of the economic value of human capital needed to drive economic growth and diversification.”
Other aspirations of the programme were to “stimulate and strengthen the linkage between the oil and gas industry and other sectors of the Nigerian economy, complement and intensify the Federal Government`s commitments and efforts towards job creation and diversification of the Nigerian economy.”
In his remarks, the Director General of the ITF, Sir Joseph N. Ari urged the trainees to take full advantage of the opportunity that was provided by the training to not only put food on their tables but to also make a meaningful contribution to the Nigerian economy.
He charged them to put the start-up kits they were presented to judicious use and never to contemplate selling them.
The trainees were later handed certificates by the President of the National Association of Engineering Craftsmen Mr Tanko Gyang, who also attended the event.
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