Over 300 youths graduate from Foundation’s skills devt
More than 300 youths have graduated from Ishk Tolaram Foundation’s skills training programme. They participated in skills such as fashion, carpentry, tiling and plumbing.
Speaking at the foundation’s graduation and skilling conference 2024 with the theme: ‘Advancing Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Nigeria: Standardisation, Curriculum Development, and Certification’, in Lagos, Programme Director, Ishk Tolaram Foundation, Nigeria, Oje Ivagba, noted that the foundation aimed to improve living standards through skills development, health and education in various regions.
He applauded the training beneficiaries who completed six months of intensive training, successfully transitioning from unemployment to meaningful employment.
Permanent Secretary, Youths and Social Development, Lagos State, Toyin Oke-Osanyintolu, emphasised the need for collaboration, adding that there was strength in numbers, the reason Lagos State partners with various initiatives to make sure no youth is left behind.
She tasked the youths to have an open mindset, be ready to learn, be passionate, resilient, and have confidence in their ability. Assistant Director, Skills Development and Certification Department, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Godwin Ugwu, while applauding Lagos state’s efforts in vocational training as against other zones, lamented that the government has neglected its responsibilities in skills development due to its minimal input.
He explained that the government has a significant role to play in advancing skills development by developing appropriate curricula, standards, and certifications.
Deputy Director-General, Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industrialists (NASSI), Mo Olumide Obidiran, said that standardisation is the minimum acceptable level and not a certificate, noting that this way, opportunities are created for workers to have varying additions as they progress, peculiar to their employer’s goals.
She explained that industry was a major player in TVET but should not be introduced after students have been trained with a curriculum that was unfamiliar to the body, emphasising that industry should be the starting point, that way, things are gotten right from the beginning.
She opined that skills development in Nigeria was a complex machine that needed to be coupled from various angles simultaneously, adding that the country was getting it wrong in sequence and viewing education, employment and enterprise as individual factors instead of a connected unit.
“The essence of skill is to trade. The goal of education is enterprise and should pass through the bridge of employment where skills would be honed, expertise developed, innovation thrives, and growth. But if curricula are developed without industry in mind from the beginning, it’s dead on arrival. This leads the employer to struggles as he now searches for ready people to employ,” she added.
Also, the Director, of Social Labour Affairs, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Adenike Adebayo-Ajala, representing Director-General, NECA, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said that the skills acquired by students from tertiary institutions, including technical colleges and higher education institutions, most times don’t meet up to industry requirements as many students are unfamiliar with the equipment used in the industry, because they lack experiential knowledge.
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