A firm, Federation of Construction Industry (FOCI) has flagged-off Nigeria Youth Employment through Skills Acquisition Fund (NYESAF) project of training 100 students in masonry in six months.
The training organised by FOCI Skill Academy, the World Bank and the Federal Ministry of Education was aimed at investing in the next generation of builders.
President of FOCI, Mr. Vincent Barrah, said the training started in April.
He noted: “We are already two months into the program. Today is just the official flag off. In the next four months or thereabouts, we will be through with this training program. As I said earlier, you can see practically what is on ground. Maybe when you came here, you saw the trainees in action.
“We are training experts in all the skills that we have for now. Not only missions. We are not training only missions.We are also training carpenters. We are also training plumbers. We are also into electric cars for now.
“As I said, we are also expanding the scope to other skills. It’s one of our happiness because of the concept of this FSA. A time came when we lacked Nigerian artisan skills.
“We were employing Togolese, Beneniose, Ghanaians. That’s what brought the idea. I said, no, we cannot sit down and watch our youths live in the streets while foreigners are taking the skills jobs. So, FOCI Skills Academy was incorporated and we kicked off immediately. We thank God for the support we got when we started and our partners gave us serious support.”
Barrah maintained that the trainees were readily available for gainful employment after graduation.
He added: “We want to assure you that they have ready employment. Because as construction companies, they are the skills that we need in our various companies.
“You agree with me that even the security situation we have in Nigeria, unemployment and so on contributes a little bit. So, when you get them gainfully employed, they are able to take care of their families, and then the unemployment gap is being completely closed.”
Speaking in similar vein, the program officer for NYESAF, Blessing Osenwota, said the project is all about skills, training, certification and employment.
According to her, At the end of the day, in our first call, because we just finished the recruitment for the second call, the first call we got above 1,000 trainees. But in this second call, we are looking at targeting and training 30,000 across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
“The employment could either be self-employment or working in an industry. Because the minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has this strong belief and love for civics, which we all know today that it’s all about skills.”