FG approves skills development, trains trade testing officers

L-R Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, President Goodluck Jonathan and CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele at the 8th Annual CBN MSME finance conference and entrepreneurship awards in Abuja recently. Pix: Ayo Fadimu

The Federal Government has approved a new Skills Development and Certification/Trade Testing Cadre and its inclusion in the Scheme of Service of the Federation.

Consequently, the career progression of officers in this cadre has been upgraded from terminal Grade Level 14 to Directorate Level on Grade Level 17.

Honourable Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, disclosed this in Karu, Nasarawa State recently while inaugurating a two-day Capacity Building Workshop for Skills Development and Certification/Trade Test Officers organized by Ministry of Labour in collaboration with Technical Vocational Educational Training (TVET), an arm of SURE-P Programme.

The Minister, represented by the Permanent Secretary of Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Clement Illoh, indicated that the Labour Ministry would partner the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) and relevant stakeholders like Industrial Training Fund (ITF); Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC); National Directorate of Employment (NDE), among others, to fashion out a Skills Development Policy for the country to boost human and institutional capacity in this specialized area.

The Minister charged the workshop to map out modalities for transforming the nation’s Skills Training Centres into centres of excellence for addressing the skills development gaps and imbalances undermining relevant technical and technological productivity in the country.

He added that Government under the SURE-P TVET Programme was poised to provide financial and logistical support for such training and development efforts.

The Minister stated that the TVET Programme has so far rehabilitated eight Skills Training Centres, namely: Federal Ministry of Works High Way Training Centre, Ijora, Lagos State; Federal Ministry of Lands and Housing Training Centre, Yaba, Lagos State; National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN), Orji, Enugu State. Others are: National Directorate of Employment (NDE) Training Centre, Aba, Abia State; Federal Ministry of Works Highway Training Centre, Kaduna, Kaduna State; Industrial Training Centre, Jos, Plateau State; Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity Training Centre, Bauchi, Bauchi State; and Federal Ministry of Works Highway Training Centre, Ugoneki, Edo State.

He pointed out that the workshop was geared towards enhancing the productivity and efficiency of the nation’s workforce in line with the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

The Minister added that the capacity building would equip the participants with relevant skills to enable them perform their duties optimally as well as keeping them abreast of new emerging trends in technological advancement and enhance uniformity in performance.