Nigeria needs more skills acquisition institutions to curb unemployment ― Minister

The Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Dr Uchechukwu Ogah has described the Metallurgical Training Institute (MTI), Onitsha, Anambra State as a critical institute necessary for national economic development,saying there is need for more skills acquisition institutions across the six geopolitical zone, to help curb the unemployment challenges in Nigeria.

He also stated that the Federal Government has put in motion the necessary process of regularising the legal framework for the effective operation of the institute to leap it to the next level.

The Minister gave the hints while addressing the management and staff of the institute during his official visit to the school.

According to him, the ministry of mines and steel development was going to regularise all the enabling legal frameworks of the institute to enable it to achieve the set goals of bequeathing skills to Nigerians.

He said the government has attained over 60 per cent progress of regularising the legal frameworks of the institute, saying that when he assumed office and discovered that the institution has no legal framework, he moved to action and today it is being perfected.

“We are 60 per cent done with the regulatory framework for the institute ,the Bill has been approved by the federal executive council and will soon be presented to National Assembly,” he said.

According to him, the purpose of MTI was to train people in skills acquisitions and not necessarily awarding certificate because what the country needed today is skill-based education.

“This school is not meant to be a certificate or degree awarding institution but meant to develop skills that will bring out the best competence in people. This is what the country needed now to grow,” he stated.

According to him, the ministry wants to see how it can build on the foundation that has been laid so that when one is done with the institute he can work in any best institution in the country.

He disclosed that the ministry was ready and capable of ensuring that the school was given the necessary support to make sure it competes favourably with any other schools of its kind around the world.

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According to Ogah, the ministry was ready to take the school to the next level because it has the requisite manpower, resources and machines to operate effectively.

He assured that in the next one year, there would be a great transformation in the institute because the ministry would expose it to international organisations that will help to develop all the competencies that are needed in the institute.

“We have all the equipment here that can fit into the 21st-century technology and we also have the old ones that are of the 19th century. The new takes care of the 21st-century technologies, while the old take care of 19th-century technologies.

“When I talk of moving the institute to the next level, I am talking about moving the institute to best international practices, whereby people can leverage what is done here for international engagements.

“We want to get some of the workshops automated so that when you are in the workshop, you can get the entire system automated, “he said.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Acting Director /Chief Executive of the institute Biakolo-Alisigwe F.O thanked the minister for his presence at the Institute, saying that his physical presence was a good testimony of his zeal to leapfrog the institute to next level of training.

She said the school runs a modular program of study of 80 per cent practical and 20 per cent theory in six specialized courses, Industrial electrical engineering, Mechanical maintenance engineering, Instrumentation and control system engineering , Heavy mobile equipment maintenances engineering, steel fabrication and welding engineering and Industrial metallurgy and foundry engineering.

According to her, Institute run skills acquisition on short term courses for youths, especially the artisans, practising technicians, workshop technologists.

She also said the Institute offers special programs to improve on the practical skills of fresh technologists and engineers desiring to deepen their practical skills.

The director also stated that the institute provides a well equipped automated workshop with arts of facilities to diagnose, repair and maintain modern-day vehicles and for the training of auto-mechanics and auto- electrical.

She appealed to the minster to assist in regularizing the enabling laws for the institute as it is vital to enable it to operate as other Institutions of higher learning in the country.

The director also made case for more workshops and materials to enable it to carry on with the duty of training the Nigerians youths in skills acquisitions.

She also lamented about the epileptic power supply in the school which she said has been hindering it in pursuit of training students and appealed for replacement of the old generators in the school.