Abia State Government says no fewer than 100,000 youths across the 17 Local Government Areas in the state will benefit from its proposed “Education for Empowerment” programme aimed at reviving technical skills among youths.
Deputy Governor, Ude Okochukwu, who disclosed this at a stakeholders’ engagement meeting held in Umuahia, added that already, three technical colleges, namely Boys Technical College, Aba; Government Technical College, Ohafia; and Afara Technical College, Umuahia had been selected to serve as pilot take-off schools for the project.
He said that the project, which is expected to commence in a month’s time, was aimed at reviving technical colleges in the state to train youths on technical skills for self-reliance.
Okochukwu also regretted the dwindling interest of youths in vocational studies, adding that the state was determined to encourage technical skills among youths to curb youth unemployment.
He hinted that the state had engaged the services of the proprietor of Kiara College in United Kingdom, Mr. Endi Ezengwa, “to help revive technical and vocational education” in the state.
Meanwhile participants at the forum were unanimous that revival of technical skills among youths should be given a priority by stakeholders to help reduce unemployment.
Later in an interview, Ezenwa told journalists that equipping Abia youths with technical skills was a better form of empowerment than giving them vehicles. He maintained that inculcating technical skills in youths would help them become “publicly employed, privately employed or self-employed”.
Ezenwa further said the training would be based on the manpower needs of the local industries, adding that the industrialists would be engaged to make known their specific manpower needs.
According to him, the project will help improve the standards of goods produced by the small scale industries in Aba, the industrial hub of the South-East zone.
He also said that psychometric tests would be conducted for the trainees to determine their educational and entrepreneurial capabilities to enable them to train in the area of competence.
Culled from punch
