By Francis Nansak ,Lafia
The Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, has expressed satisfaction that the Wing Commander Abdullahi Ibrahim Vocational and Skills Acquisition Institute, has commenced training of youths from across the state.
Engineer Sule, also commended the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) for effectively utilizing the facility to the benefit of the people of the state and the country at large.
The Governor during an inspection visit to the institute on Tuesday urged the trainees to use the opportunity provided at the institute to acquire vocational skills that will make them self employed.
According to him, “it gives me a sense of fulfilment to see the institute commence its activities with 70 youths drawn from across the state, stressing that this further serves the policy thrust of my administration in the area of human capital development.”
He expressed hope that, with the springing of industries across the state, the Lafia vocational institute will serve as a centre for the training of qualified manpower to man these industries.
Earlier, the Executive Director of the institute, Dr. Daniel Ewuga Asele, disclosed that the first batch of trainees at the institute comprising of 40 youths, will undergo intensive training in Information Communication Technology (ICT), while the remaining 30 will be trained on wielding and fabrication.
He explained that, after the training, which will last for 3 months, the trainees will graduate with the National Skills Qualification (NSQ) certificate, as well as the National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) certificate.
The executive director added that, the institute has also begun the process of ensuring that it register with appropriate regulatory agencies, in order to be able to issue its trainees with the National Innovative Diploma (NID).
“The bottom-line of all the training we are doing here, is that at end of it, they will be employers of labour. Before now, Nigerians interest is only on paper qualification. Your paper qualification cannot give you anything today. Your certificate cannot fetch food for you today. Your certificate cannot respond to food, to money,” Dr. Ewuga said.
He emphasized that, the institute is impacting vocational skills on the youths so that they can start their own business, as well as become employers of labour.
