By Omodele Adigun
National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has engaged 2,000 youths for training and employment under the Artisans in Collaboration Construction Employment Scheme (ACCES) of the directorate.
The recruited participants were drawn from states across the federation, including Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
50 participants, reflecting the senatorial zones of each state, were selected across the federation and the FCT, Abuja, with the rest gotten from the national grid.
Having gone through mandatory three months training under major construction firms in the country, the trainees, after graduation, are to be either absorbed by the construction organisations where they were trained or empowered to be self-employed.
The NDE Director General, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, said Nigeria is blessed with array of heavy and light construction industries, medium and small sizes with opportunities for the unskilled and semi-skilled unemployed Nigerians to be accommodated for gainful employment.
Artisans in Collaboration Construction Employment, he said, is a technical scheme, designed to equip the youths with critical skills required to earn a living in the multi-faceted construction industry which include house building, rail, road, bridge construction and the rest.
“Unemployed youths, numbering about 2,000 were recruited and attached to construction firms regardless of paper qualification and gender.
Generally, they have learnt from technical supervision, overseeing the daily activities on the construction sites, planning, managing and tracking the progress on the construction projects,” he said.
He said part of what school leavers among the participants would learn include the use of heavy construction equipment, quick fix skills such as fixing and maintenance of door handles, door cylinders, engines, construction and installations of building frameworks, including windows, walls and floors.
Graduates of higher learning among them are expected to develop high quality and cutting edge 2D and 3D arts and models from photos and real world objects, utilizing 3D modelling, mapping, texturing, lighting techniques and the rest.
“Among them, we hope to develop electricians, plumbers, glaziers, painters, insulation professionals, solar photovoltaic installers and the likes.
“NDE is synergizing with firms of diverse intent and sizes, including the conglomerates to fashion out jobs for the willing Nigerian youths,” he said.
Director of Special Public Works, the department anchoring the scheme, said in order to encourage and wet the appetite of the jobless youths for the programme, the Federal Government, through the NDE, has provided incentives for the participants.
Each of the recruited beneficiary of the scheme was paid monthly allowance enough to support transportation while the training last.
NDE disclosed that in 2021, 42,500 jobs were created under the Artisans in Collaborative Construction Employment Scheme and Labour Based/Environmental Training and Transient Scheme.
