Ebonyi State Targets 200 for Skills, Entrepreneurship Training

 

The Ebonyi State Government, Southeast of Nigeria, has concluded plans to promote skills acquisition and entrepreneurial development in the area.

The state’s Commissioner for Skills Development and Job Creation, Mr. Okwu Oko-Udu disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Abakaliki, the state capital.

He explained that the state government targets over 200  people in the state to benefit from its newly strategiszed skill-up program for artisans in the state.

Mr. Oko-Udu noted that the governor, Chief Francis Nwifuru approved the project as an empowerment scheme, to skill up artisans in the area and ensure that many of them benefited from it.

The Commissioner extolled the efforts of Governor Nwifuru in wiping out the stigma attached to the people of the state as mere street hawkers, adding that the  empowerment scheme was designed to end the era of hawking among the people.

According to him, “I thank God for giving us Rt Hon Francis Nwifuru to be the governor of Ebonyi State.

He is a man of few words, who believes in action.

That is why he has come up with his People’s Charter of Needs mantra, another strategy which will help him to perfect his mission.”

“The governor is also
 looking at having an industrial city at Ezzamgbo where artisans and those who want to learn different skills will benefit.

That place is going to be a central hub for skill acquisition, for skilled and unskilled people of this state,” he added.

Oko-Udu further said, “as I speak to you, the site has already been cleared; while the  ministries of Skill Development and Job Creation, Commerce and Industry, and Trade and Investments, had been saddled with the responsibility.

His Excellency considers that most of our brothers and sisters who are in hawking businesses, still need to be brought back home.

Recall what happened recently in Lagos where our people were stranded after their shops and trade centres were destroyed.”

“This year, the Ministry of Skill Development and Job Creation is coming up with a new dimension, in the area of skill development and job creation.

The Ministry is working towards what we call Skill-Up Ebonyi, a project which is in top gear now and we intend to partner with the artisans in the state to actualise our goal.

We expect that over 200 persons will be beneficiaries,” he emphasised.

The Commissioner stressed that his Ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Investment as well as Commerce and Industry had been working tirelessly, to establish an Industrial City in Ezzamgbo, in the Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the State.

According to him, the industrial city which has been approved by Governor Nwifuru, would be used for the training and empowerment of artisans, after which, the state government would allocate free shops to beneficiaries of the program, to ensure close monitoring of their activities in the site.

Oko-Udu expressed the hope that 200 skilled and unskilled artisans will benefit from the skill-up exercise, noting that the ministry works with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and other relevant agencies, to ensure that funds meant for the empowerment was not misappropriated.

The Commissioner disclosed that his ministry has on the mandate of the governor, visited some skills acquisition centres in the state, which are already moribund and  dilapidated, adding that on the recommendation of his Ministry, the governor has promised to bring them back to life.

 

 

 

 

 

Victoria Ibanga