An NGO, the Ladi Memorial Foundation (LMF), has started its Young Entrepreneurs Club Abuja Project (YECAP) through its training branch, the Chateko Vocational Institute (CVI), to train and strengthen 100 students and early school leavers in Abuja.
Daily Trust reports that LMF trains and equips youth and women with professional and technical skills to improve their livelihoods and productivity in order to reduce poverty and unemployment in Nigeria.
With this in mind, LFM Managing Director Rosemary Osikoya presented on Friday a six-month joint technical vocational education (TVET) curriculum for entrepreneurship and employability for 31 students at the Junior Government Secondary School (JSS), Pyakasa., Lugbe, Abuja.
The first group of 31 students was selected from 100 participants in the freely scalable training, which is carried out during school hours, on weekends and during the holidays from July to December 2021.
Daily Trust reports that the 100 beneficiaries included 31 high school students, 30 JSS students, and 39 high school dropouts / teenage parents for training in clothing and hospitality trades.
The NGO has also purchased and exhibited sewing machines and various equipment for catering training to empower beneficiaries while also being equally connected to practicing artisans and exhibiting individual projects upon completion.
Osikoya said the education became necessary because of the high number of out of school children, while most of the children in schools aspired to office jobs and often completed basic education with no professional skills.
Against the background of a solid educational policy stipulation that children should acquire professional skills by the end of JSS 3, this should be an issue for everyone.
She noted that the objectives of the vocational training project were to stimulate and stimulate young people’s interest in entrepreneurship; build leadership skills, maximize their potential, identify skills and open up career paths for the participants.
The LMF boss explained that in order to achieve the specific goals, the support of a wide range of interest groups through donations, sponsoring, material and professional support is necessary.
“The YECAP is designed to ensure that at the end of six months, participants develop marketable, actionable skills in line with the modular curriculum of the National Business, Technical Examination Board (NABTEB).
“The National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) introduced in 2018 provides the policy framework for equality between informal and non-informal education, but awareness remains limited.
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“The stigmatization of vocational training is widespread in many communities, but the LMF offers credible platforms for effective awareness-raising and advocacy as it meets the requirements,” she said.
In a note, Mr. Kashim Ali, vice chairman of the LMF Board of Trustees, said the NGO started operations in Kogi State in 2017 after it was determined that sustained interventions in the development of high quality skills were necessary for survival and gainful employment / entrepreneurship .
Ali announced that CVI was established in 2018 and two functional vocational training centers were established in rural and urban areas in Kogi, and over 500 people were trained.
“It has provided 100 percent free education and housing for rural poor youth since its inception to improve livelihoods, but unfortunately support has been reduced due to the impact of COVID-19 on NGO funding,” he noted.
As a thank you, Hajia Amina Abdullahi, the headmistress, thanked the NGO for considering the school to expand its charitable gesture for economic development.
However, Abdullahi advised the students to take the opportunity to acquire skills that were trending towards self-employment.
