GreenVETAfrica, an ERASMUS+ Project, co-founded by the European Union (EU) has trained 48 Nigerian youths and 61 youths in Ghana, on how to effectively manage and process waste to tap into the $10 billion circular market in Nigeria.
The event held recently in Lagos with the theme, ‘EU-Africa Waste Management VET Knowledge Transfer Workshop’ celebrated the graduation of its students, which marks the first vocational training on waste management in the state and country.
It aimed to bridge both the knowledge and funding gap in Africa’s most populous nation’s circular economy.
Adriano Mauro, managing director of AREA, a small and medium-scale enterprise in Italy, shared that the organisation’s focus centred on technology and knowledge transfer between mature markets like Europe and emerging ones like Africa.
“We have to say that this is Nigeria’s first project on waste management. We want young people to discover that waste is not something that should not be touched, but it’s rather now filled with multiple opportunities,” Mauro, who is also the project coordinator of GreenVET Africa, said at the event Thursday.
He said that the organisation adopts augmented reality, smart glasses for remote expert support in its learning process.
Also, he emphasised the significance of this initiative for Africa, highlighting its potential to generate value from waste and showcase Africa’s technological advancements, even surpassing some European efforts in this field.
“This is a big opportunity in Africa because we have been able to find a way to not only generate value from waste but also create job opportunities for young people, mostly people who are unemployed,” he added.
According to Mauro, the programme was developed to bridge the skills gap in green waste management in West Africa and promote the twin transitions — green and digital – for efficiency and climate sustainability.
He noted that the project involved Angola, Sao Tome and Namibia, emphasising that the goal of the organisation is to “reach out across Africa with the right skills and opportunities.”
During her speech, Elizabeth Ademola, head of Climate Change and Diplomacy, LAWMA, emphasised the importance of individual responsibility in environmental cleanliness as a foundational step towards more advanced solutions.
Oluwakemi Kalesanwo, head of agency for Lagos State Mass Education Agency, expressed optimism over the state’s collaboration with GreenVET Africa to ensure that Nigeria meets its target of reducing its green emissions by 45 per cent before 2030.
Kalesanwo stressed the importance of vocational education in fostering collaboration and sustainable development. She noted that the Lagos State Agency for Mass Education is responsible for non-formal education, including literacy, numeracy, and vocational skills.
“This is a very laudable project. The EU has come to Nigeria to train our citizens on waste management, and now that they’re leaving they’ve handed it over to us. Nigerians and Lagos are happy about it,” she said.
Kalesanwo said that the Agency for Mass Education has vocational training centres, and non-formal vocational training centres, where they teach various skills. Therefore, “we believe that with what GreenVET Africa has done, we’re going to bring it into our vocational training centres and start training people on how to manage waste.”
On her part, Tari Taylaur, senior special assistant on the environment to Lagos State Governor, discussed the integration of the GreenVET Africa programme into Lagos’ waste management policies.
She emphasised the importance of skills training for community empowerment and advocacy for policy adoption, noting that Lagos generates about 13 million tons of waste annually, highlighting the need for a mindset shift to see waste as a commodity.
“What GreenVetAfrica is doing is great, because it’s really about people taking ownership. And what better way to prompt people to take ownership, than by giving them the skills, the actual skills, to do that?” Taylaur said. She went further to urge Nigerians to take personal responsibility for their waste. “Once you empower somebody, you are empowering a community, because that person is going to take that knowledge, invest it and apply it where they are.”
“So I’m happy about the kind of programme that the organisation is doing because it complements what Lagos government is doing in terms of encouraging people to be at the forefront of every policy that we implement as a state and as a government,” she noted.
Out of about 67 students who graduated from the vocational training in waste management, in partnership with the Institute of Industrial Technology in Lagos, many finished with distinctions and were connected to the right jobs right away.
Linda Obijofor, a student of the project, discussed how it has enhanced her waste management skills and shifted her perspective on waste’s value. She now sees waste as a resource for innovation and is working on utilising it effectively.
“Before now, I never knew that waste management is of high value, but now I’m beginning to see it as a wonderful space I can work in,” she said with a smile.
Another student, Chisom Umenu, said the curriculum of the project increased his chances of getting a job at a reputable organisation as a technician. “The programme has upskilled my skills, and I owe it to how the curriculum was designed.”
Partners in the project included international and local institutions such as AREA, LAWMA, Whizzy Academy in Ghana, and CNOS-FAP Federation in Italy, all of whom contributed to the program’s success in empowering young Africans with tools for environmental and economic transformation.
GreenVETAfrica’s legacy is poised to continue through its open-source curriculum and accredited programs, setting a precedent for sustainable vocational education in Africa.
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