A month training programme geared towards upgrading the project skills of shoemakers, garment makers and automobile technicians, under the Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills (IDEAS) project has ended in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State.
The project sponsored by the World Bank in conjunction with the Nigeria Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills, a non-governmental organisation, aims at enhancing the capacity of the Nigerian skills development system to produce relevant skills for the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
Apart from encouraging skill acquisition from secondary school, the IDEA programme also aims at upgrading the skills of artisans, especially those in the fashion industry in the case of Aba to improve the quality of their products and increase production to meet local demands and for export.
About 400 artisans, comprising mastercraftmen and apprentices from the three selected sub- sectors, participated in. the training, which was the pilot phase of the IDEA project for the South-East region of Nigeria.
The project with four components, encourages partnerships with industry for enhanced quality and labour-market orientation of public technical colleges, which aims to provide grant funding for the rehabilitation and upgrading of Federal and State Technical Colleges (TCs) with the aim of transforming their operational models into public private partnerships, in which industry partners assume a prominent role in institutional governance, management and planning, training and service delivery.
The second component is to improve skills formation in the informal sector, to deliver a comprehensive capacity development intervention package for the improvement and modernisation of informal apprenticeships to selected informal sector clusters.
The third component is to increase the availability of competent and motivated technical teachers and instructors, to improve the availability of appropriately skilled and competent technical teachers and instructors (TTI) in the skills development space throughout the country, including teaching staff of private skills development institutions, and starting with technical teaching staff in TCs.
The fourth component is to strengthen the regulatory environment and public management capacities for market-oriented skills development, support further rolling-out of the Nigerian Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) reform, which involves capacitating Sector Skills Council (SSCs), curriculum development and revision based on National Occupational Standard (NOS), training and certification of assessors and trainers.
Ken Anyanwu, national secretary, Association of Leather and Allied Industrialists of Nigeria (ALAIN), who was one of the resource persons at the shoemaking centre for the training of apprentices, explained that the project was geared towards inculcating skills in students early at secondary school level.
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While affirming that 183 shoemakers from the Aba finished leather cluster participated in the programme, Anyanwu noted that three technical colleges, one each from the three senatorial zones of Abia State were chosen for the programme.
The schools are Government Technical College, Aba, Technical College Afara, Umuahia and Technical College, Ohafia, in the pilot phase of the programme for the South-East.
According to him, the essence is to start teaching vocational training early in secondary school.
Consequently, the mastercraftmen and their apprentices, who were upskilled during the one-month training, are expected to absorb these young graduands from the technical schools on internship.
Comfort Mado-Alabi, managing director, Na’Vave Global Limited, who trained female apprentices in the fashion design centre, said that the IDEA programme would enable. the artisans to fit into the national skill qualification framework.
“For example, we used the national occupational standards manual for levels one and two to train them, so that they can acquire new skills and improve on their production,” she said.
Mado-Alabi, who holds a doctorate degree (PhD) in entrenuership/fashion design and former lecturer at the Kaduna Polytechnic, said that Nigeria would benefit from the IDEA project, as it would encourage standardisation of products and improve the country’s economy.
“Nigeria is going to benefit immensely, as it would improve quality of products, and in the process, if you have quality products the economy will improve,” she said.
Victoria Uloma Ibeawuchi, managing director, Vandough-kelz Designs, whose facility was used for the training of female tailors, affirmed that the fashion industry is huge and advised the participants to put all they learnt to practice to improve the quality of their products.
According to her, “When you are good at what you do, people all over the world will contact you. I have clients in all parts of the country and outside of Nigeria. I have also trained so many people in the industry. Fashion industry is big and can contain so many people,” she said.
For Innocent Onwukwe, managing director, Ojaic Concept, one of the facilitators of the project, it was an eye opener.
He said that he learnt how important it is to draft patterns, which helps in seamless cutting of materials, especially for mass production.
“In fact, the training opened my eyes to so many things that I didn’t know about. It made me to understand that the old way we used to cut our materials is wrong. We ought to draw out patterns to make it easy for us to cut our materials seamlessly. With pattern, you can cut so many materials at the same time. And this is the way to mass produce for export, which is one of the aims of the programme.”
Tiwalade Oyekunle, an apprentice, said that her interest in the fashion industry brought her to the programme.
She said, “I like making good dresses that fits.
She thanked the sponsors of the project, noting that the programme is a veritable platform that would spearhead her growth in the industry.
For Oluchi Nwogu, another apprentice, the IDEA project has inspired her the more to pursue a carrier in the fashion industry.
According to her, “This programme has made me to realise that the fashion industry has huge opportunities that I can tap into.”
