NECA-ITF skill initiative takes garment technicians on board

About 20 female garment technicians have begun training under the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) and Industrial Training Fund (ITF) skill acquisition initiative with Ruff ‘n’ Tumble, a Lagos based fashion outfit as the training ground.

The technicians are to undergo intensive training during which time it is expected they would perfect their skill in clothe making to become self- employed or join any existing fashion/garment making outfits and advance their career.

The idea of the training, according to Helen Jeremigbe, a NECA director who stood in for Olusegun Oshinowo, the director general of NECA, is to offer a platform for school leavers who roam the streets in search of jobs, to acquire skills that would make them self-employed and jobs creators rather than job seeks. The NECA-ITF partnership has so far seen several young Nigerians trained for skills in different sectors of the economy.

Last month the programme graduated about 20 technicians specialising in different aspects of truck maintenance, with Truckmasters, an automobile company as the training ground.

Juliet Chukkas-Onaeko, the director-general of ITF who was at the induction of the garment technicians at Ruff ‘n’ Tumble, in Ikeja GRA, Lagos, encouraged them to seize the opportunity to perfect their skills in order to become self-sufficient.

JOSHUA BASSEY