Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment has sensitised the residents of Katsina State on the need to acquire skills and vocational education to be self-reliant.
The campaign organised by the ministry’s skills development and certification department is part of its apprenticeship and traineeship attestation programme in the North West Zone and Katsina town in particular.
During the tour of various training centres in Katsina town, the deputy director of the skill development and certification department, Engr. Tiza Chiila Shaakaa, said the exercise was to encourage young Nigerians to embrace apprenticeship and handwork.
He said, ” We don’t train people in journalistic skills, we don’t train people in legal skills, we don’t train people in administrative skills and we don’t train people in management skills. Our mandate is on vocational skills.
“It is a mandate which we arrived from the Labor Act cap 198 section 49 to 53, laws of the federation of Nigeria. This sensitization exercise, we started last year and we’ve so far covered 12 states.”
He then stressed that the approved age for apprenticeship starts from 12 years and above, hence anybody training an apprentice below 12 years is indulging in child labour.
Earlier, the zonal director of the North West zone, Aliyu Abdullahi, explained that the awareness campaign focused on local apprentices to ensure they are well-trained and concentrate on their mandates.
He said acquiring skills has now become the hope of every scholar and well-meaning individual, encouraging all degree holders to embrace skills and trade.
