Graduation Ceremony of Students of LASTVEB/NECA-ITF TSDP in the Construction Trades.

From next month, technical college graduates in carpentry, plumbing, blocklaying and tiling will be involved in the rehabilitation of public schools.

The Deputy Governor, Dr IdiatAdebule made this known yesterday at a special graduation for 90 students of the Government Technical College (GTC), Ikorodu, who underwent the Nigerian Employers Consultative Assembly (NECA) Industrial Training Fund (ITF)Technical Skills Development Programme.

Dr Adebule said the measure would save the government of money. The students too, she added, will also be gainfully engaged and exposed to competency-based and entrepreneurial training during the programme.

She also presented certificates of registration issued by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to some of the 25 businesses formed by the students and promised that the government would partner with them.

Dr Adebulesaid: “The Lagos State governor will therefore be launching in August a maintenance gang for the Lagos State public schools making use of the graduates in construction trades from the state technical colleges.  Apart from the opportunities available to these graduates in NECA member organisations to render minor repairs and maintenance services, the Lagos State Government will further be engaging the 30 companies incorporated by the graduates from these initiative and more.

“The implication of this is that as the graduates are leaving this hall today, they already have something to do.  The amount of money we give to contractors to repair our schools is huge because we wait until there is so much to do.  We decided among ourselves that we have these graduates, why don’t we use them,” she said

The Deputy Governor praised NECA and (ITF) for collaborating with the Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB) on the training and called for more of such partnerships aimed at addressing the problem of youth unemployment.

“This administration has decided to pay more attention to reforming our technical colleges with the infusion of entrepreneurship education for a self-reliant Lagos economy.  This administration would therefore continue to encourage private partnerships in order to frontally address the problems of unemployment, which is a core social challenge in the state.”

Executive Secretary LASTVEB, Mr Olawumi Gasper described the partnership as the product of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NECA-ITF signed in 2013 to support the incubation of start-ups in the construction industry.

Given the quality of training the graduates received during the programme, Gasper expressed confidence that their companies would do well. “They have received strong training in entrepreneurship development and in the three selected area at the GTC Ikorodu, in addition to supervised internships, business plan submission and strong mentorship from successful building sub-contractors and contractors.  We are happy to inform parents, guardians and our stakeholders that 75 of the students, one from plumbing, carpentry, and blocklaying/tiling have already incorporated business entities.  These new micro-enterprises will now be the new face of providing quality services in some residential estates in Lagos area,” he said.

One of the graduands, AdaraloyeAladejobi, urged NECA-ITF to continue funding the initiative for others to benefit. “We appreciate NECA-ITF for collaborating with the government to train us.  I appeal that the programme is continued for the benefit of other students coming behind.  With this, graduates of GTC will not have to search for white collar jobs but we will be employers of labour,” he said.