NBTE, World Bank train 200 apprentices in Gombe

National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), in collaboration with the World Bank, on Monday, began a five-day training for more than 200 apprentices on skills development in Gombe State.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the training was organised by NBTE under the Innovation Development and Effectiveness in Acquisition of Skills (IDEAS) project, in partnership with World Bank.

In his remarks, the Project Manager of NBTE, Mallam Abbati Muhammad, said all the trainees are apprentices already in the field, learning one skill or the other.

“We want to equip them with basic generic skills that will transform their attitude and make them succeed in their various places of work,” Muhammad said.

He said the participants would undergo training on communication and ICT as well as health and safety to enable them function properly in their various trades.

“Certification, degrees and diplomas are not as important as skills. Skills are the global exchange currency all over the world. If you have skills, you can move to Europe and work. We have youths working for German companies from their homes. This is what NBTE, under the leadership of Professor Idris Bugaje, is proffering to the nation,” he said.

National Project Coordinator for IDEAS, Mrs Blessing Ogwu, said the project is a World Bank-assisted one, initiated by the Federal Government but domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Education.

Ogwu said the project was focusing on skills acquisition at all levels, with the aim of reducing unemployment, adding that the project is divided into four components of technical colleges; informal sector like the out-of-schools and the vulnerable, among other groups; technical and teacher training and cross-cutting issues, with grants to be given to the private sector to train the youth on gender issues, among other areas.

She highlighted the component to be handled by NBTE to include training for the informal sector, adding that at the end of the training, each of the participants would be given a starter-pack.

The state’s Commissioner for Education, Professor Aishatu Maigari, said the participants were drawn from 11 local governments in the state.

Maigari, who was represented by the Director, Science Technical and Vocational Education in the ministry, Mr Ahmadu Maigari, urged the participants to be punctual during the five-day training.

Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Prof. Bugaje, said the training was aimed at helping the participants to upgrade their skills to meet the global best practices.

Represented by his Special Assistant, Prof. Diyayudden Hassan, Bugaje said the training would equip the participants with modern knowledge, skills and techniques.

The participants are apprentices in carpentry/furniture making, welding and fabrication and motor mechanics.