It is no longer news that the prevalence of unemployment in the country is at its peak and keeps rising in geometric proportion. Government at all levels cannot provide the needed employment for the teeming unemployed youths, especially the white-collar jobs for which the vacancies don’t exist.
In Nasarawa State, the problem of youth unemployment has contributed to a culture of collective poverty and to make matters worse, no previous government in the state has come out with a template on how to remedy this ugly drift with its attendant consequences.
But in a total departure from the past, the state governor, Umaru Tanko Al-makura, has revived the moribund skills acquisition centres in the state.
The governor’s step in this direction will no doubt, help to promote small and medium enterprises that will address the menace of poverty ravaging the people of the state and thereby paving the way for self-reliance amongst the teeming youths and women folk.
To make the skills acquisition centres functional, Al-makura has approved the release of over N1 billion to them for the construction of over 60,000 chairs for primary and junior secondary schools in the state.
The governor’s decision to patronise the state-owned skills acquisition centres is also aimed at boosting the morale of the prospective trainees, as profits accruing from the contracts would be used to buy working tools for the graduating trainees and disbursement of some cash as start-up capital.
The Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) of the state government is a deliberate effort aimed at generating employment, creating wealth as well as reducing poverty in Nasarawa State which is already being translated into reality.
The whole initiative is tailored towards the emancipation and empowerment of the Nasarawa youths and women groups in various trades and other commercial ventures. Also, the policy would create a business environment and economic culture which will address the absence of entrepreneurial know-how among the people which will in turn stimulate the creative imagination, talent and curiosity of youths in the pursuit of self-development and excellence.
The zeal and enthusiasm exhibited by the government of the state has metamorphosed into concrete realities with the recapitalisation of the skills acquisition centres located in Wamba, Lafia, Doma, Assakio and Nasarawa towns.
Mindful of the fact that modernity has redefined application of knowledge for faster and more qualitative output, Nasarawa State Relevant Technology and Skills Acquisition, has since gone into partnership with Singapore as its expatriate partner.
This partnership, according to LEADERSHIP Sunday’s findings, is to enable the agency depart from the previous archaic and traditional training of its students in areas of woodwork, metalwork, leather works, among others, to a more modern way so that the trained youths could acquaint themselves with the modern trends and methods.
Investigations further revealed that expatriates from Singapore have paid several visits to the state to study the existing facilities at the various centres in order to fashion ways of upgrading them or acquiring new ones.
Speaking to our correspondent, the General Manager of the agency, Ibrahim Adamu, listed some of the modern training techniques to be learnt from the Singaporean partners to include electronics, modern roofing to tiling works and modern ceiling fitting.
Adamu said, “our aim is that when these youths are empowered by some of the things that would be brought by the Singaporeans, they will go out and compete favourably with any other technician outside the country. So, we do not only want to transform the state technologically and empower the youths, but to ensure that what our youths are doing now is what others are doing in other parts of the world. We want to go with the modern trend.”
He added, “unlike other places where the youths pay money to get these opportunities, the Nasarawa State government has made it free to all the trainees. In addition, government pays a monthly allowance of N3,000 to each trainee and on successful completion of their training, government will assist participants to set up their own business enterprises.
“The administration of governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura has brought back the 2,000 trainees we have already graduated that the training was not enough until they are empowered. The governor had argued that ‘If you train them and release them back to the streets, you have done nothing.’ So, His Excellency directed that after training them, we should make sure that we follow up in order that they are properly engaged.”
One of the instructors who handles leatherwork/shoemaking at the Lafia centre of the Relevant Technology and Skills Acquisition, Ayuba Musa, told our correspondent that the youths that have enrolled for the programmes of the centres are learning fast.
He said, “you can see what they are doing now. This really shows that they are interested in the job training, so that in the near future, they would become self-employed and automatically cease to be dependants in the society.”
A female carpentry trainee, also of the Lafia training centre, Asabe, said that she has chosen carpentry as her trade. She said that her decision was borne out of the fact that she has never in her life seen a lady indulged in carpentry which according to her assessment, “is more of a tedious job as compared to other trades.”
When asked about her feelings as she learns the trade, Asabe said: “as I am learning it now, I am happy with the nature of the job because whatever rigours that I may be passing through in the course of the job training is nothing but an exercise to keep my body fit all the times.”
The Executive Chairman of the state Universal Basic Education Board (NSUBEB), Mallam Abdulkarim Mohammed hailed Al-Makura’s vision on the project, saying that it would go a long way in helping to plough back the resources into the society through the youth empowerment.
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