Guardian

THE National Directorate of Employment (NDE) is putting finishing touches to ensure more skills acquisition training centres begin operation very soon, the Director General of the NDE, Mallam Mohammed Abubakar has disclosed.

Speaking in Rimaye, Katsina State, at the commissioning of a skills acquisition training centre, Mohammed identified skills acquisition as formidable instrument that could help turn the tide against massive unemployment trend.

The NDE chief said that the training centre had the capacity to train 200 trainees per training cycle in the areas such as auto-tronics, computer operations and engineering, welding and fabrication, plumbing, electrical installation, GSM handsets repairs and fashion designing.

He said that the skills set was deliberately chosen in order to effectively equip the young artisans with skills of the 21st Century, adding: “It is our sincere belief in the NDE that the desire of the federal government to position the country among the 20 strongest economies by the year 2020 is not only a legitimate aspiration but an achievable one.”

The NDE helmsman was quick to point out that the goal could only be met when the country had in place a vibrant and properly skilled workforce that was equipped to service a 21st Century economy under a globalised world.

In his remark, the Governor of Katsina State, Shehu Shema, commended the job creation and poverty alleviation drive of President Goodluck Jonathan and assured of the state commitment and support for the President’s Transformation Agenda.

He added: “We in Katsina State are working in tandem with the transformation agenda of President Jonathan. I thank the president, the minister and the NDE for taking this development to Katsina.”

For his part, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chukwuemeka Wogu said that the various policies and initiatives embarked upon by his ministry were aimed at creating millions of jobs in realisation of the President’s Transformation Agenda.

Wogu described skills acquisition as a critical ingredient in the chain of job creation.

In the last 26 years, the minister said that NDE had been at the forefront of mass job creation in Nigeria through skills acquisition in various fields.

He pointed out that the challenge posed by unemployment to any society was such that no government acting alone could mitigate its effect.

The minister therefore stressed the need for all tiers of government to commit themselves to the job creation efforts as contained in the transformation agenda of President Jonathan.

He said that the present administration had re-doubled its efforts at meeting the Millennium Development Goals targets, saying that the commissioning of the centre was a practical demonstration and step in that direction.

The minister explained: “The cost of youth unemployment is very high and indeed unbearable. Therefore, government’s response to this high social cost is through the systemic and celebrate establishment of skills acquisition centres across the nation. This initiative is informed by the strong conviction of the federal government that skills acquisition is critical and effective tool for mass job creation which will in turn lead to wealth creation, poverty reduction and reduction in violent crimes.”