Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has hinted that two bills, National Apprenticeship Scheme bill and another to allow for more national languages outside English as Nigeria’s lingua franca, are in the works, and may soon debut in the lower legislative chamber.

The bills are contemplated to give legal framework to the idea of creating more skills and employment for unskilled youthful population. Kalu mulled the ideas while meeting with the management team of Bildup Integrated Services (Bildup Africa), led by its Chief Executive Officer, Chibuike Aguene, during a courtesy visit over the weekend.

According to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Levinus Nwabughiogu, the Deputy Speaker bemoaned Nigeria’s huge population of unskilled youth. He said the apprenticeship system currently practised mostly in South-East as ‘Igba-Boi’, where someone undergoes a training in a particular craft or vocation for an agreed number of years and later gets settled by his employer, will be institutionalised through legislative intervention.

He said the idea is in line with the Renewed Hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is committed to creating more employment opportunities for citizens, especially the youth.

The Deputy Speaker, who commended acquisition of academic certificates, however, said it is not enough without commensurate skill. He referenced countries like Germany and China with less emphasis on certificates, saying they have impacted the world with more practicable skills.

Reacting to a piece of technological initiative by the Bildup Integrated Services to encourage the apprenticeship system and boost skills acquisition, Kalu said efforts are being made to make the three major languages of Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba official, to encourage the apprenticeship system.

He reasoned that many youth communicate better in their mother tongue, when learning a skill, than they do using English as the nation’s lone official language.

While commending the technology, Kalu pledged his support for the initiative. He assured of the sponsorship of 3,000 youth across the federation in the first phase of the apprenticeship system, which is to be championed by Bildup Integrated Services in various areas of skills acquisition.

He said: “I would like to express my gratitude for your contributions to skills training, apprenticeship, and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria and the African continent as a whole.

“Your commitment to skills development and entrepreneurship aligns with our nation’s aspirations for economic growth, job creation, and empowerment of our youth. I applaud your organisation for working on this timely and nationally important National Apprenticeship Scheme.

“At the 10th House of Representatives, we anchor our legislative activities on the core principle of participatory governance. We are laser-focused on delivering a regulatory environment that only supports entrepreneurship development but also encourages commerce and facilitates the growth of the economy. It is in this vein that I acknowledge the calls for supporting legislation that institutionalises the newly designed National Apprenticeship Scheme.”

Earlier in his presentation, Aguene requested the support of the deputy speaker in projecting a legislative framework that will institutionalise a dual apprenticeship system in Nigeria.