Nigeria’s Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Umana Okon Umana says the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is helping to improve the living standard of Nigerians through the provision of vocational training as well as skill acquisition.
The Minister stated this at the commissioning of a skills acquisition centre at Abaezi in Oha/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State, South-East, Nigeria.
These skills cut across Information and Communications Technology, electrical works, agriculture, masonry, and carpentry.
Built by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, the skills centre was formally handed over, after the commissioning, to the Federal Polytechnic at Nekede in Owerri, capital of Imo State, to be used as a backup facility for practical training in technical education.
The skills centre, which ranks as a modern village, complete with landscaping, is made up of an administrative block; technical blocks; a conference building; an ICT centre; a cafeteria; student hostels; a clinic; a warehouse/store; a road network; sports facilities; covered drains; a generator house; and a water treatment plant for reticulated water supply.
The facility also has the following for staff housing: 4-bedroom detached duplexes; 4-bedroom semi-detached duplexes; blocks of 16 two-bedroom flats; and 2-bedroom semi-detached bungalows.
The Minister said the project was handled by local contractors as a deliberate policy to create jobs for youths in the community and to impart skills. He urged the host community to protect the training facility and guarantee its long-term use.
The Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodima who was represented by the Deputy Governor of the state, Prof. Placid Njoku, expressed the appreciation of the people and government of the state to the Federal Government for the facility.
He advised the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, to see the provision of the facility as a further incentive to do more in deepening its reputation as the leading tertiary institution in the country in innovative practical education.
According to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, it targets all nine states of the region with skills centres. Some of the centres have been completed and put to use over the years, while some are at advanced stages of completion.
