Federal Govt To Give Jewellery, Gemstones Trainees Startup Capital

Minister of state, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Sen. Gbemisola Saraki has pledged the ministry’s commitment to providing starter packs for candidates trained in gemstone and jewelry making.

The minister made this pledge yesterday in a speech she delivered at the graduation ceremony of the Batch 2 Master Gemstone and Jewellery-making and Design Trainees yesterday in Abuja.

At the event held at the Gemstone and Jewelry Training Centre, Abuja, yesterday, the minister urged the beneficiaries of the training to be motivated by the wide variety of gemstones in Nigeria and use the skills and knowledge they had acquired to take the industry to the next level.

She said, “By this intensive jewellery making training programme, the government’s expectation is that you will make the sector proud, become job creators and facilitate the growth of small and medium scale enterprises in the jewellery industry value-chain.

“With your acquired knowledge from this training, it is my belief that you will form the new army of jewellers who will create spectacular products out of the mineral deposits in Nigeria with great aesthetic for commercial value and would have achieved the objective of the development envisaged when this programme was conceived and designed.

“In fulfillment of the Hon. Minister Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite earlier assurance to your colleagues (the first graduates of this programme) regarding sustainability plan to empower you with equipment to set up and train others, the minister of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD) through the Mindiver Project has concluded plans to purchase starter pack for each of the graduates of batch-1 and your batch. This effort is aimed at motivating you to be the best ambassadors of your respective states and the country. Therefore, I urge you to put this equipment that will be given to you to the best of usage.”

Saraki explained that the Master Training was necessitated by government’s determination to strengthen Nigerian jewellers’ knowledge to add value to the raw gemstones mined in the country for higher commercial benefits in view of the fact that the Nigeria Gemstone sub-sector had unfortunately remained underdeveloped, despite the huge potential of the gemstone and jewellery industry in the country.

“It is our hope that, with this milestone achievement, you will put your training skills into good use so that, in the nearest future, Nigerians would not be going abroad to buy their jewelleries.”

LEADERSHIP Friday reports that the master training programme is executed under activities of the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Development (MinDiver)  Project in the ministry to promote the local processing of gemstones and jewelry across states in the country to create jobs, and facilitate the growth of small scale businesses.

The programme, in its second edition, had 20 participants chosen from different states in Nigeria and trained for over six months. The first batch of graduates from the centre had 16 trainees.

The project coordinator, Engr Sallim Salaam, in his remarks told the beneficiaries that by the master trainer programme, they are meant to return to their various states and train and empower others with the knowledge they had acquired.

One of the graduating candidates, Suleiman Ahmed, applauded the minister, the instructors and the organizers of the programme for the knowledge the beneficiaries had been invested with, and said they would endeavour to put the skills they had garnered in good use, He, however, pleaded for funding support in the form of start-up capital.