Presidency upbeat about NDE Abuja Skills Centre

The Presidency has expressed optimism that the Model Skills Acquisition Centre of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Kuduru District, Bwari Area Council, Abuja will create an environment for the private sector to thrive.

Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation Prof Sylvester Monye, who inspected the centre weekend, lauded the NDE for building the place with a reasonable amount of money.

“I am most impressed that we have a center of this magnitude in the FCT. Secondly is the concept itself that have a holistic provision for skills acquisition and development and the third component which is new is the full boarding residential training facility.

“But beyond that, what I find difficult to believe is the cost. The cost is less than N200 million for the entire infrastructure and the buildings. You have residential unit, you have workshop, you have training facility and you have a huge administrative building. It is truly unbelievable,” Monye said.

Speaking on what the centre will achieve, he said “first of all we have discovered that over the years perhaps we over concentrated on the white collar jobs seekers. This is like going back to the basics. The job of government is to provide enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.

“We are interested in private sector people making money. But the only way they can make money is if we provide the enabling environment. If you are an employer of labour and you discover that you don’t have people to employ, then there is a problem. If you have graduates that are not employable, then there is a problem. So, our job as government is to create that source that those who create jobs require.”

Explaining the rationale for building the centre which is one of five the directorate is constructing in the country, NDE Director General Mallam Abubakar Mohammed said “we have made a paradigm shift in taking ownership of the training, standard, curriculum and output.

“In achieving our aim at ensuring high standard of our trainees, the directorate is in discussion with the National Board for Technical Education and National Board for Business Education with the aim of awarding certificates.”

Centre will have autotronic, welding, GSM repairs, electrical installation and maintenance, poultry, fishery, irrigation and food processing departments.