By Oshodi Ramant, Abeokuta
In a bid to improve economic livelihood and enhance productivity among citizens, the Ogun State Skills Fund Project under the State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP) has concluded plans to train 10,000 individuals across over 10 different types of trades for the pilot scheme, while reviving all the State Technical Colleges in the State.
The immediate past Commissioner for Budget and Planning in the State Mr. Olaolu Olabimtan revealed this while fielding questions from Journalists, saying the Project was set up as an initiative to support technical and vocational skills in the State, towards the production of skilled and employable youths, thereby putting an end to lack of adequate skilled manpower in workplaces.
He stated that the skills fund would have people of integrity as Board of Trustees, who would ensure that the fund is separated from normal government budgetary systems in order to achieve transparency and sustainability.
The Commissioner further hinted that the selection process for the skills fund would be community-based, though in a very competitive manner.
He posited it was high time the society desist from celebrating individuals with questionable sources of wealth, rather, encourage hard work, diligence and the acquisition of skills.
On his part, the immediate past Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu noted that Government cannot employ everybody as Civil Servants and has therefore provided a means of empowering them and making them employers of labour themselves. He noted that the skill acquisition programme is well-structured and technologically driven unlike the traditional skill acquisition method.
He further called on parents of interested learners from Junior Secondary School (JSS 3) not to discourage their children and wards from attending the State Technical Colleges as the certification from the colleges would be recognised by creditable bodies and they would still have the opportunity of proceeding to the Universities or Polytechnics in order to be more academically inclined if desired.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education Science and Technology, Mrs. Abosede Ogunleye appreciated the State Government for her effort in tackling the menace of unemployment especially among youths, saying that the project would go a long way in changing the narrative of the State and introduce everyone into a better society.
She described handwork as very important all over the world and urged the intending trainees never to take skills acquisition for granted.
In a related development, the State Project Coordinator of the State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP), Mrs. Mosunmola Owo-Odunsi, has revealed that the Skills Development Programme through the Ogun State Skills fund under the Ministry of Education Science and Technology is being sponsored through OGSTEP by the World Bank adding that the duration for each of the skills would range from 2 to 9 months.
Mrs. Owo-Odunsi, disclosed this during a sensitization visit to one of the Training Centres in Obada-Oko area of the State.
She further hinted that the trainees were being sourced with due recourse to transparency through a list of registered poor and vulnerable individuals in the State and that the training is standardised through the National Occupational
Standards (NOS).
While giving credence to skills acquisition as one of the major means of livelihood, Mrs Owo-Odunsi, encouraged intending trainees to show enthusiasm and be focused in the course of the training in order to make not only the State or the nation better but their individual lives as well.
She noted that the State, over time would become a beehive of trained workers who have the options of going back to school or become service providers themselves or get employed.
She expressed optimism that in a couple of years, Ogun State would be a place to be envied. ‘’If the project is sustained and the model improved upon, I see the project being replicated in many other States’’ She concluded.
On his part, the Skills Development Specialist, Mr. Segun Fatoki explained that the training service providers were thoroughly screened to ensure standardisation and that a single training programme would be used in all the training Centres for each of the trades to ensure uniformity.
On the issue of non-literate intending trainees, the Consultant said they would first be taken through literacy skills and that no trainee is expected to pay any amount or bring any training tool as government would provide all.
He further explained that the trainees would be tested on their abilities and that Certificates as well as start-up kits would be given to successful ones adding that the trainees would be monitored for an additional 6 months to ascertain the level of effectiveness of the skills acquired and how it had impacted their economic well-being.
He further disclosed that officials from the Skills Development Sector had embarked on a sensitisation tour across the four divisions of the State where registration of beneficiaries is ongoing.
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