The National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE) has trained 150 nomadic youth and women on skill acquisition and sustainable livelihood in a bid to create wealth and address unemployment and poverty among nomads across the country.
Addressing the participants during the opening of the training on Tuesday, the Executive Secretary (ES), National Commission for Nomadic Education, Prof. Bashir Usman, said the training aimed at empowering nomadic youth and women, who are drawn from FCT, Katsina, Delta, Osun, Anambra and Yobe states, one state from each of the six geopolitical zones, in various skills such as sewing and knitting, livestock production, ICT and cosmetology.
The ES, while thanking Kaduna state government for hosting it’s head office and supporting the Nomadic Education Programme (NEP) over the years, however called on the Kaduna state government and other states to provide teachers and infrastructure for Nomadic Primary Schools and include the training of nomadic youths in their programmes, in a bid to ensure that all the 3.5 million out-of-school nomadic children are enrolled in nomadic schools.
He said: “This is one of the several trainings conducted for modern entrepreneurship skills and sustainable livelihoods organized by the Commission for our youths and women and other participating critical stakeholders from the states. Our teeming youths and women are eager to imbibe relevant vocational education and value orientation skills which play a key role in providing food security and income to millions of families and their communities. These communities are faced with challenges of poverty, climate change, illiteracy and insecurity.
“In an effort to address some of the key challenges in the sector, the Commission developed a variety of approaches one of which is the promotion of community-driven and need-based programmes in the area of youths and women vocational education and value orientation. The Commission conducted Participatory Needs Assessment and Identification of Trainees for this skills acquisition training on livestock and dairy development, fashion design and hair dressing among the six benefiting states namely; Anambra, Delta, FCT, Katsina, Osun and Yobe.
“Empowering the youths and women is the means through which they are assisted to succeed in life and having the opportunity to develop the ability they need to become role models who can influence their communities and earn a living for socio-economic and sustainable livelihoods development. With youths and women empowerment, the future prosperity of nations is secured because these are the people that are future entrepreneurs of any nation. When they are empowered, through need based skills, their societies become a good place for all to live.
“The initiative of empowering the youths and women through vocational education and value orientation can reduce poverty of many rural societies, reduce restiveness, social vices such as cattle rustling, kidnapping, raping, rural banditry, piracy and incessant conflicts leading to wanton destruction of lives and properties. The various skills provided in this training workshop provide the trainees with skills and acquisition training basically to ensure poverty eradication, good education standard, job creation, good governance, security/crime reduction, national growth, technological development and employment, wealth creation and self-reliance.”
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