National Board for Technical Education and HYPERTECH Nigeria have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to train Almajiris and out-of-school children across the North on skill acquisition towards National Development.
The Executive Secretary of NBTE, Professor Idris M. Bugaje, stated this while speaking with newsmen shortly after the signing of the MoU in Kaduna.
Professor Bugaje said the purpose of the MOU was to address the almajiri challenges, to reduce the number of out-of-school children and unemployed youths across the north and beyond.
According to Bugaje, HYPERTECH will fund the project while the Board provide the technical know-how by using local content.
“We will train unemployed youth and give them skill to fit into national projects such as the Mambilla Hydroelectric power and the upcoming railway expansion and other projects across the country for the nation’s economic growth”
“We have signed a MoU today with HYPERTECH. The purpose is to de-escalate and entrenched skills training in local content. HYPERTECH is the national consultant on local content for Mambilla Hydroelectric power projects and for many other projects across Nigeria”
“We would like to train local youth across areas in North-East, Kaduna and other parts of the North so that we can move up the unemployed youth and give them skill to let them fit into national project like the Mambilla Hydroelectric power project and the upcoming railway expansion and several other projects across Nigeria”
“The almajiri across the country, almost 15 million of them, will be mobilised, trained and given skills with certification and they can fit into infrastructure projects.”
According to him, thousands of the Almajiri and out-of-school children as well as school drop-outs will benefit from the programme which is to take place at the Government Technical College, Malali and other designated centres across the state and even beyond.
“The implementation is through the identified training centres. Here in Kaduna, we have identified Government Technical College, Malali and every state, we are going to identify appropriate centres.
“HYPERTECH is going to facilitate the training and we are going to provide the necessary quality assurance. We know the sector in councils involved and they are being informed.
In a remark, the Managing Director of HYPERTECH, Alhaji Mohammed Mustapha said the MoU was expected to benefit thousands of Almajiri and out-of-school children as well as the unemployed youth.
Alhaji Mustapha noted that the objective of the MoU was for national development.
“We are here to sign MoU with the NBTE in the advancement of the local content policy and also by extension with our corporate social responsibility, the Arewa Foundation which is focussing on upliftment of the Almajiri programmes in lines with the current development of the Almajiri commission,”
According to him, other project being targeted was the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power project set to generate 3,050 Megawatts of Hydroelectric power, signed off by the Nigeria and Chinese governments that are working towards implementation.
COV/AMINU DALHATU
