Dangote academy trains 10000 employees

THE Dangote group of companies on Monday said it had trained over 10,000 youths in technical skill acquisition through the academy established by the organisation.

The organisation said the move was part of a move to address industrial skill shortages in the country and also create employment opportunities for the people.

This Group Executive Director, Capital Projects and Portfolio of Dangote Group of companies, Mr Victor Edwin, stated this during the inauguration of Junior Technician Scheme (JTS) Batch 3 and 4 of the company.

According to him, the organisation started the 18 months training for the beneficiaries in order to foster the acquisition of technical skills and leadership ability which are means of capacity development and empowerment.

Dangote Academy has admitted a new set of 100 youths to be trained towards the acquisition of technical skills and leadership ability which are means of capacity development and empowerment.

Edwin explained that the academy was established in 2010 to serve as the talent pipeline for the Dangote Group while filling the industrial skills gap in Nigeria.

He said the move was in recognition that the group and most industries in Nigeria could not rely solely on universities and colleges of technology to provide the specialised technical and managerial training required to run major modern industrial factories.

Edwin said, “Most industries in Nigeria cannot rely solely on Universities and Colleges of Technology to provide the specialised technical and managerial training required to run major modern industrial factories such as Dangote Cement factory, particularly in the large numbers of personnel they required to run their operations all over the country and outside Nigeria.

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‘It is therefore expected that at the end of the 18 months training programs, these 100 young Nigerians will become master technicians in any or more of the following areas namely; electrical installation and maintenance, automobile maintenance and instrumentation, welding and fabrication, machining and fitting and mechanical maintenance. All these are critical skills area for the development of any nation.

“Dangote Group believes strongly in human capacity development, hence the massive investment in both physical infrastructure and human capacity development training programmes which is not limited to engineering but covering several other fields of human endeavors including risk management, financial management, health, safety and environment, security, leadership, sales, marketing, communication and entrepreneurship.

“The group through the Dangote Academy trained about 10,000 employees in 2017 through delivered and supported training programs. Dangote Academy is the training hub that will be serving our expansive business acquisitions and operations within and outside Nigeria. It is also expected to serve the capacity development needs of some other African indigenous industries and multinationals.”

According to him, within and outside Nigeria Dangote has synergy with reputable institutions such as German Association of Equipment Manufacturers, VDMA and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET),and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) was aimed at capacity development and with the regard to getting propelled into an enviable level of fulfillment.