Cocoa Association Launches Skills Acquisition Programme For 400 Youths In C/River

The Cross River State branch of the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN) is set to empower 400 youths with entrepreneurship skills through a skill acquisition programme.

CAN chairman in Cross River State, Mr. Buba Pascal-Kejie, disclosed this yesterday in a chat with LEADERSHIP in Ikom.

Pascal-Kejie, stressed that the training aims to equip youths with practical skills, making them self-reliant and reducing over  dependence on white-collar jobs which is becoming out of fashion and outdated.

Giving insight into the training, the CAN chairman in the state averred that it would help the trainees become self-reliant rather than roaming the streets of the city seeking white-collar jobs that hardly exist.

“We have initiated a skill acquisition programme, to take a huge number of youths out from the streets.

“If you look along Ikom -Calabar road,  you will come by a massive project where we are trying to erect a skill acquisition centre with a state-of-the art facility.

“We will use the centre to train young people to acquire certain skills in different areas of human endeavours so that they can better themselves at the end of the day.

“We  are going to train boys to stop  cocoa theft. We will assist  them to acquire skills in welding, carpentry, bricklaying, and others,” the CAN chairman maintained.

“We do not want our young men to be in the street to constitute a nuisance. An idle mind they said is the devil’s workshop. We are passionate about seeing them better themselves and contribute their quota to the development of society.

CAN chairman who doubles as chief executive officer, Kejies Nig. Ent. Ltd, stressed that the leadership of cocoa association will provide starter packs to enable them start up their own businesses.

“This is what we intend to do in order to impact on human capital development”, he maintained.

He averred that plans are underway by the association ‘s leadership to distribute  improved seedlings to members at no cost in order to boost the production of cocoa in the state.