From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Federal Government has called on the management of Federal Government Science and Technical Colleges (FSTCs) to prioritize environmental and social safeguard so as to enhance effective implementation of the World Bank-assisted innovation and skills acquisition project in Nigeria.
A statement from Federal Ministry of Education, indicated that the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, gave the charge in Abuja, during a workshop on environmental and social safeguard screening and other preliminary activities for FSTCs implementing the Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills (IDEAS) project.
The Minister reminded them that IDEAS is a World Bank sponsored project designed to address identified deficiencies in the education system that has led to large number of school leavers’ unemployed, urging Nigerian youths to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the IDEAS project.
Adamu noted that environmental and social management was critical for effectiveness and sustainability of the project in line with the Nigerian environmental policies and the World Bank’s environmental and social policy.
He said: “As important as developmental and expansion projects are for human development, what is of equal importance for consideration is ensuring environmental and human protection in the process of executing projects”.
He said the project had prioritized environmental and social management in line with the Nigerian environmental policies and the World Bank’s environmental and social policy.
“The environmental and social screening of sub-project marks the beginning of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) or Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) processes.
“In view of this, all Environmental and Social Officers (ESOs), Project Managers (PMs) of the participating FSTCs needs to be trained on how to carry out environmental and social screening of sub projects in the Colleges using screening checklist provided for in the Evaluating Solution in Management Facilities (ESMF).”
He confirmed that an estimated 40 FSTCs across the country, alongside the private sector would benefit from the IDEAS project which also has a technical teacher training component.