The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development(BMZ), on Wednesday announced its government’s plan to handover its ongoing dual vocational training programme in Nigeria to the nation’s private sector in 2018.
Mr Kehinde Awoyele, the Project Coordinator of the German Dual Vocational Training Partnership with Nigeria, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the project was meant to enhance the employability of young Nigerians.
Awoyele said that the project, which started in Nigeria in December 2012, had been receiving financial support from the BZM, conducted by sequagGmbh, with the CCI Giessen-Friedberg as a major partner.
“This vocational education project by the German government, is meant to introduce vocational training in technical and commercial occupations to young Nigerians in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State.
“It is a pilot project, which has been running in phases, to urgently begin to address the high level of unemployability across Nigeria.
“This project has been able to train many trainers and apprentices for many private sector companies today.
“The two phases of the pilot projects are meant to enhance the workability of the dual vocational system in Nigeria.
“So, the German government will by the end of December 2018, be handing over its initiated dual vocational programme to Nigeria’s private sector for sustenance, and employment creation for young Nigerians,’’ he said.
Awoyele said that the organised private sector and other private organisations in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja, had embraced the programme as a way of reducing the unemployability of young Nigerians by local and foreign organisations in Nigeria.
The Coordinator said that his government had evolved a sustainability mechanism, to be spearheaded by the German Delegation of Commerce and Industry in Nigeria, for the vocational programme.
Awoyele said that his organisation was also already holding meetings with Chief Executive Officers from Nigeria’s private sector, on the need for them to be involved in the programme’s sustenance.
“We recently brought together CEOs from Nigeria’s private sector, because we strongly believe that the private sector are economy drivers, as well as the driver of vocations in Nigeria.
“We believe that there is a skills gap in many organisations today. We need to fill these gaps by the sustenance of this dual vocational project, even after the German government has handed it over to Nigeria’s private sector,’’ he added.
(Source: NAN)