About one hundred youths in Nasarawa state, North Central Nigeria have been trained in modern design and production of Plaster of Paris (POP) and installations.
The training programme was the first phase of North Central regional skill development to be carried out by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) as part of its ongoing job creation and training programme in the country.
While declaring the training open in Nasarawa State, the Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Sani Haruna said that the retraining was to make practitioners more efficient and to enhance the prospects of earning a living from their chosen vocation.
“The ongoing skill development training and youth empowerment programme by the Agency across the country aimed at introducing modern and technological ways of carrying out already existing trades and occupation by the people at the grassroots and it was also targeted at developing the needed critical competent workforce for industrialization of the country, a charge that had been given to NASENI by President Buhari.”
A statement signed by the agency’s Deputy Director of Information, Olusegun Ayeoyenikan, noted that the NASENI Chief made clear the agency’s effort in carrying out feasibility studies on vocations in all the geo-political zones of the country to know what the youths in each zone were already making a living from and to retrain them on how to use modern equipment to strengthen their skills and to provide them more rooms for job creation and self-reliance.
The NASENI boss stated that the use of POP in housing projects is currently trending in Nigeria as more than 70% of houses built in the country are done with the use of POP.
Prof Haruna highlights the challenges of POP profession in the country as an absence of appropriate tools and equipment for the design, preparation, moulding and casting, thereby making the work labour-intensive.
The Executive Governor of Nasarawa State, Engr. Abdullahi Sule who was represented by Professor Umar Gurku, commended the initiative adding that the prospect of wealth creation for those involved in the area of the vocation is very high.
“Such highly paying job area could not be ignored by a caring government without creating more enabling environment for innovation and professionalism. This is the reason for the state Government’s support for this skill acquisition training and empowerment programme facilitated by NASENI,” he added.
PIAK
