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The Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), in collaboration with N-Power, gas said that it is training 16,800 artisans, nationwide, under the Federal Government Artisans Empowerment Programme, to boost the sector.
Its Programme Manager, Joshua Olorunkiya, made this known, on Wednesday, in an interview with the journalists.
Olurunkiya, who spoke on the sidelines of the “Train the Trainers” workshop for Skill Acquisition Programme for Construction Artisans, said the programme would be implemented from January to December 2018.
The Build Vocational Training programme is a CORBON and N-Power initiative, in partnership with the National Social Insurance Office (NSIO) of the Presidency to empower youths and tackle unemployment.
Olorunkiya noted that the programme has about 200 training centres, nationwide, to accommodate 700 trainers, on the average, to facilitate the training.
He regretted that, currently, there was a lack of skilled workforce in the country, adding that there was high level of unemployment in the country.
He said: “When the current administration came on board, one of its agenda was to create jobs, particularly to engage the youths and one of the sector considered was the construction industry that engages more of the youth.
“Base on this, government came up with the programme to train artisans, nationwide, in six major trades – including masonry, iron bending and fabrications, painting and decorations, electrical services and installations, plumbing and tiling.
According to him, the federal government has also procured tools to be given to the artisans at the end of the one-year programme, so that they could start their means of livelihood from there.
“Every trainee that successfully completes the programme will be certified and registered by CORBON, as a skill artisan, then the incident of quackery would be reduced.
“When you look at the construction industry, most of the artisans in the country, today, are from Togo or other neighbouring countries, and they are making huge amount of money.
“It is of no use to engage an artisan, who is not skilful, on the basis of sentiments, when you can engage someone, who can do the job better from another country,” he added.
“That is the brain behind the programme and to do that successfully, government through the office of NSIO is bankrolling the programme.
On this note, he said that the government deemed it fit to engage the builders, because as professionals they were certified to translate every construction design information into reality.
Olorunkiya said that the first three months in the programme would be used for theoretical session, whereby the artisans would be thought the attitudinal re-orientation, work ethics and simple business management.
He explained further that the remaining nine months would be fieldwork and practical demonstrations, and based on that their proficiency would be assessed for them to be certified as qualified artisans.
“There will also be evaluation and monitoring, which will be done all through and certificate will be issued by CORBON,’’ he said
