Ebonyi State government said that over 200 people would benefit from its skill-up program as it began working towards promoting skills acquisition and entrepreneurial development in a new dimension in the state.
The State Commissioner for Skill Development and Job Creation, Mr Okwu Oko-Udu who disclosed this while interacting with journalists in Abakaliki, said Governor Nwifuru approved the project to skill up artisans to ensure that many of them benefit from the newly strategized empowerment scheme in the state.
"The Ministry of Skill Development and Job Creation is working towards what we call Skill Up Ebonyi, it is a project which is in top gear now, where we want to partner with the artisans in the state and over 200 persons will be beneficiaries," he said.
Oko-Udu noted that the passion of some individuals who always want to benefit from every government-approved empowerment scheme just to squander the funds for their selfish reasons to the detriment of others will no longer be permitted in the state.
He stressed that the Ministry of Skill Development and Job Creation in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Investment as well as Commerce and Industry has been making a top effort to establish an Industrial City in Ezzamgbo in Ohaukwu LGA of Ebonyi State.
He said the industrial city which in his words, was approved by Governor Nwifuru, would be used for the training and empowerment of artisans, after which, the state government would offer free shops to the beneficiaries of the program to ensure close monitoring and assessment of their progress in their trades in the site.
"At least 200 skilled and unskilled artisans will benefit from the skill-up exercise and the ministry always works with the National Directorate of Employment, NDE and other relevant agencies to ensure that money budgeted for the empowerment of Ebonyi people was not siphoned by anyone or group," he added.
He praised Governor Francis Nwifuru's administrative policy drive to reverse the stigma of viewing Ebonyi people as those who appreciate hawking comes to an end through the empowerment scheme.
"I thank God for giving us Rt Hon Francis Nwifuru to be the governor of Ebonyi State today. He is a man of few words, who believes in action.
"This year, the Ministry of Skill Development and Job Creation is coming up in a new dimension, in the area of skill development and Job Creation.
"The reason is this, the ideology of empowering people and they will not make judicious use of what was given to them, is the problem we have. That's why His Excellency decided to come up with another strategy which will be better for him to perfect his mission, the People's Charter of Needs mantra.
"His Excellency is looking at having an industrial city at Ezzamgbo where artisans and those who want to learn different skills will benefit. That place is going to be a central hub for skill acquisition, where skilled and unskilled people of Ebonyi State.
"It's because His Excellency is targeting industrializing Ebonyi at least, to let Ebonyi have something remarkable - a phenomenal project, which people can see if they come to Ebonyi.
"And as I speak to you, the site has already been cleared. The ministries of Skill Development and Job Creation, Commerce and Industry, and Trade and Investments, had been shouldered with the responsibility.
"The way His Excellency considers that most of our brothers and sisters who are in hawking businesses, still need to be brought back home. You know what happened in Lagos where our brothers and sisters were stranded after their shops and trade centres were destroyed in recent times.
"His Excellency wants us to have a new Ebonyi State, where people aspire to go and invest; where an Ebonyi citizen will make money in Ebonyi without going out. The ideology that Ebonyi people are dominant in hawking should be eradicated or minimised under his administration.
"Like the governor said during the exco-meeting, he assured those people of training and giving them shops in the industrial city, to practice the trade they learnt after their training.
"The ministry has visited some skills acquisition centres that are already moribund at this age. Most of them have already dilapidated. His Excellency gave us the mandate and we have done that by visiting the one at Nkwegu in Abakaliki LGA, the one at Izzi and seeing the situation. We have written to His Excellency and he promised to revive them. Truly, His Excellency wants massive skills in Ebonyi State in his administration," the commissioner concluded.
Victor Nwegede
