Skills acquisition: NDE partners private sector

“When the NDE began, we were using the informal sector together with our in-house capacity but later we believed that with the changing patterns of higher demands, we needed to change our approach in line with the new market demands.”These were the words of the Director General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) Malam […]

“When the NDE began, we were using the informal sector together with our in-house capacity but later we believed that with the changing patterns of higher demands, we needed to change our approach in line with the new market demands.”
These were the words of the Director General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) Malam Mohammed Abubakar at an event last week to sign a memorandum of understanding with a private firm on the management of NDE’s skills acquisition centre in Kuduru, Bwari, Abuja.
With the MOU, the firm, Career Intelligence, will take control of the centre, implementing “needs-based programmes” tailored to ensure the spread of skills relevant to the Nigerian labour.
The centre, commissioned last year is fully equipped with modern tools and equipment for both technical and agricultural vocations but the need to efficiently utilize government’s scarce resources informed the decision to hand it over to private handlers, the NDE has said.
“The decision of the NDE to embark on this collaboration with the private sector is influenced by the current financial realities the country is in. It is common knowledge that funding from government has seriously decreased for various understandable reasons. In any case, I believe it is the responsibility of every agency of government to continuously engage in on how to do things differently for optimum output.”
The skill-sets that the NDE targeted at commencement of the centre were welding, computer operation/maintenance, GSM repairs, plumbing, electrical installation, hair dressing, catering, interior decoration, radio/TV repairs, auto electrical, fashion design, cane furniture making, video/photography, satellite installation/maintenance, knitting, soap making, motorcycle repairs and food processing.
Abubakar said private sector involvement was also necessary in order to meet up with the burgeoning demand of Nigerians for high quality services from artisans.
“The NDE has been in the business of imparting skills on our trainees over the past 27 years. We have now found that we can improve even more when we involve the private sector in our operations.
“Now, Nigerians demand higher professional artisans that can deliver higher quality of work which the private sector can engender. The NDE believes that the private sector has the capacity to bring this higher quality to being. Career Intelligence has shown that they have the capacity to do what we were doing more efficiently and we recognized this. We never said we were the best but when we see superior way of doing things, we embrace it.”
Speaking on the benefits of the arrangement to government, he said the collaboration came at a point when “we had completed a skill acquisition centre that has not been put to use. Government spent a lot of money erecting the structure and would not wait and see it rot away. What the company has on offer are programmes that can spread all over the country. They have made a commitment to spread the training programmes to other parts of the country.”
He added that after one year, if the collaboration proves mutually beneficial the understanding can then go on for more years and well into the future.
“The MOU is put in place to ensure the terms of the agreement are constantly reviewed to ensure smooth working relations even where there are changes of leadership in the directorate,” he said.
He pointed out that beneficiaries would be charged heavily subsidized fees as part of the deal.
On his part, the Managing Director of Career Intelligence David Yusuf said his company’s years of experience in the United States and Europe will kick start a needs-based programme that will give Nigerians more jobs and reduce the dominance of foreigners in specific fields in Nigeria.
“Our initiative is a start-off point for bridging the skill gap in Nigeria. The skill gap between where we ought to be as a nation and where we are presently is very wide. Irrespective of this worrying gap, there has to be a start-off point which must be comprehensive, scientific, evidence and outcome-based that is devoid of guess work.
“What we are here to deliver is a very comprehensive and scientific way of tackling the issue of unemployment and job creation looking at multiple factors that are involved in the predisposing causes of unemployment especially among youths.”
He further explained that “regardless of where one studies, what is key that must be understood is that certification and certificates alone do not guarantee a good job. What lands jobs is ability to demonstrate skills on a particular job. The situation in the world we live in today is that there are scientific ways in which skills are measured. It means that no skill, no job. It is as simple as that.”
According to him, “the challenge is lack to information. An average Nigerian youth does not understand his talent. How to harness his talent and where to get information to make things happen for him is a major challenge and that is what we are here for. To help people rediscover their existence and how to earn income from what they enjoy doing and doing effortlessly.”