Over 700 civil servants trained in vocational skills
Over 700 civil servants have been trained in various vocational skills by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).
The coordinator, Vocational & Entrepreneurship Skills Training at SMEDAN, Moshood Lawal, said the agency decided to embark on the training to teach civil servants entrepreneurship skills and prepare them for retirement.
“What we are doing right now is as a result of the economic meltdown. We are trying to reorientate their minds to think as entrepreneurs and plan for life after retirement. Some of them do not know how to manage their finances or how to run businesses, so now that they are still in service, we are trying to build their mindset towards owning their own businesses,” Lawal said.
Lawal said 680 people have been trained so far and 135 were being trained in this batch. “They are being trained in fishery , poultry, bakery, ICT, computer networking and laundry services.
“We also take them through entrepreneurship courses and how to manage their enterprises very well to be sustainable and for them to make money from it,”he said.
One of the trainees who is learning bakery, Engineer Magaji Katagum, said the training has been impactful . “They are reshaping our minds from moving from paid employment to being our own bosses and prepare for exit from the civil service.
“It is an enriching programme and it has broadened my mind to think outside the box; to see opportunities around me and make money from it, not just for myself alone but people around me too.” he said.
The president, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology Cooperative Society, Prof. Martins Emeje, said the training will help co-operators to be self-sufficient, adding that in the civil service rule, there is room to do farming.
“We also have a grant set aside, so after the training they will write a proposal, and if we find it worthy, we will give them a grant to start their own business.”