FG And C-STEMP To Train 370,000 Artisans In 2016

Afolabi Imoukhuede, Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Job Creation and Youth Employment, at the flag-off of the Construction Skills Training and Empowerment Programme (C-STEMP), in Abuja early last week said the Federal Government plans to train 370,000 artisans this year to boost skills development and employment generation.

“The Federal Government has plans to train 370,000 artisans this year…It has already been decided. We have had a fruitful discussion on it with the Vice President and relevant ministers and we are looking forward to working with the C-STEMP to achieve the goal,” Imoukhuede stated.

C-STEMP is an initiative of J.Hausen Nigeria, a construction management consultancy firm that is aimed at training qualified manpower and artisans in the construction industry.

Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Power, Works and Housing reiterated the Federal Government’s promise to address the shortage of indigenous artisans as foreigners are being shipped in to do the job.

According to Fashola, the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing would benefit from the skill acquisition training as it already had training centres in Lagos and Imo State.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) in collaboration with Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) is set to train and certify 200,000 artisans this year.

Tijani Shuaib the President of the NIOB said the empowerment programme was aimed at developing a pool of well trained and qualified manpower for the housing and construction industry, and that the training is targeting 2 million artisans over the next 5 years.

“NIOB is ready to commence training, assessment and certification of the Building Craftsmen and Artisans in collaboration with CORBON and the DFID sponsored C-STEMP. We have developed and validated a National Occupational Standards for the key building construction trades, Masonry, Carpentry, Plumbing, Electrical installation, Painting and Decoration among others,” he said.

He said the lack of skills in the Nigerian construction sector has become a trend in Nigeria that is worrying the regulatory bodies and stressed the need to train building artisans and craftsmen.

https://techpoint.ng/2016/02/01/fg-and-c-stemp-to-train-370000-artisans-in-2016/