NAN-H-67
Training
Minna, Nov. 7, 2016 (NAN) No fewer than 500 artisans are undergoing an entrepreneurship training organised by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) across three centres in Niger State.
With the nation’s economic recession, the capacity building exercise is part of efforts to empower the beneficiaries and enable them to become employers of labour.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the trainees, comprising aluminium producers, bead makers and carpenters, are products of the National Industrial Skills Development Programme of the Industrial Trust Fund.
Speaking at the training in Minna on Monday, the SMEDAN programme facilitator, Mr Fawale Olasukanmi, urged the trainees to take advantage of the programme to be able to improve their economic status.
He said the essence of the programme was to empower young people to go into economic activities and to be productive.
“We are doing this in collaboration with the Industrial Training Fund who have already handled the technical aspect of equipping them with the skills,” Olasunkanmi said.
He said that 200 trainees were being trained in Minna, while the remaining were having theirs in Bida and Kontagora centres simultaneously during the five-day exercise..
The facilitator said the trainees would be made to form cooperative societies at the end, to enable them access credit facilities to set up and grow their various business ventures. (NAN)
AMEN/SOA
Edited by Oluwole Sogunle