Kasim Sumaina in Abuja

A firm, Federation of Construction Industry (FOCI), through its academy, yesterday officially flagged off the Nigeria Youth Employment through Skills Acquisition Fund (NYESAF) project of training 100 students in masonry in six months.

FOCI Skill Academy in collaboration with the World Bank and the Federal Ministry of Education noted that as the voice of Nigeria’s construction sector, it has consistently championed policies, interventions, and partnerships that strengthen the industry and support the workforce that drives it.

The President of FOCI, Mr. Vincent Barrah, at the official flag-off ceremony in Abuja hinted: “We view today’s event not just as a ceremonial flag-off, but as a powerful statement that the time has come to invest in the next generation of builders, and to do so boldly and intentionally.

“We started already since April. We are already two months into the programme. Today is just the official flag-off.”

Barrah, while speaking on the sidelines shortly after the event, added: “In the next four months or thereabouts, we will be through with this training program. As I said earlier, you can see practically what is on ground. Maybe when you came here, you saw the trainees in action.

“We are training experts in all the skills that we have for now. We are not training only masons, we are also training carpenters. We are also training plumbers, and we are also into electric cars for now.

“As I said, we are also to expand the scope to other skills. It’s our happiness because of the concept of this FSA. A time came when we lacked Nigerian artisan skills.”

The FOCI president further explained that: “We were employing Togolese, Beneniose, and Ghanaians. That’s what brought the idea. I said, no, we cannot sit down and watch our youths live in the streets while foreigners are taking the skilled jobs. So, FOCI Skills Academy was incorporated and we kicked off immediately. We thank God for the support we got when we started and our partners gave us a serious support.”

Speaking in similar vein, the Programme Officer for NYESAF, Blessing Osenwota, stated that the project is all about skills, training, certification and employment.

The training, she added, is free, stating that: “The federal government through the World Bank has paid for all that we are doing. It’s costing them good money to train one youth. And we are doing it passionately.

“The project is under the Federal Ministry of Education and, the ministry is doing wonderfully well in this regard.”

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