Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

NMRC, ITF kick off construction skills acquisition programme

By Emmanuella Ibe, Comfort Agi and Theresa Osere
15 October 2018   |   2:58 am
In fresh efforts to help bridge the manpower gap in the building and construction industry, the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) has flagged off its second building and construction skills acquisition programme.


In fresh efforts to help bridge the manpower gap in the building and construction industry, the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) has flagged off its second building and construction skills acquisition programme.

The three months intensive vocational training program organized in collaboration with the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) for 40 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) at the Karamajiji IDP Camp, Lugbe, Abuja is part of NMRC’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

The CSR contributes in a practical and sustainable way towards reducing the artisan skill deficit in the construction and building industry while empowering socially disadvantaged youths with relevant industry skills and competences that will enable them to earn a decent living.

Specifically, the training program aims to empower the participants, dispossessed by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, with professional skills in four different construction and building trades: Masonry (block laying & plastering), plumbing, electrical works and tiling.

A key feature of the 2018 training program is the inclusion of ten women who will be trained particularly in tiling. This is part of NMRC’s commitment towards gender inclusion and support.

As part of the practical training project, participants are to construct some demonstration housing units, that will help project to provide decent accommodation for IDPs at the site. The houses will be wholly fitted with all components including electrical, plumbing, tiles and toilet facilities.

NMRC Executive Director and motivator for the training programme, Dr. Chii Akporji, stated that NMRC’s decision to make construction and building skills acquisition a key part of its annual CSR is based on the company’s understanding of the potential of the housing industry to create jobs and impact lives positively.

Her words: “We believe that the best way to empower a person is to give him the skill to meet a need in exchange for value. Our goal therefore is to sustain this programme as a tool that will help empower the IDPs who have lost so much from the crisis in the North East with the capacity to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in the housing, building and construction industry and better their lives. By doing this, we believe that we are also helping to increase the pool of professionals and qualified artisans in the industry. The twin advantage makes it an ideal fulcrum of our corporate social responsibility”

The Director General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Mr. Joseph Ari, represented by the Head Training, Mrs. Evelyn Ose Irabor commended the NMRC for their consistency in facilitating the skill acquisition training programme.Mrs. Irabor further expressed the commitment of ITF to the program and pledged that they will ensure that participants are properly trained.

In this article

0 Comments