National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and HYPERTECH Nigeria have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to train almajiri children as well as out-of-school children in the north on skills acquisition towards national development.
The executive secretary of NBTE, Prof. Idris Bugaje, after the signing of the MoU in Kaduna, said it was to address the almajiri challenges, the number of out-of-school children and youth unemployment across the north and beyond.
Bugaje said HYPERTECH will fund the project while the Board will provide the technical know-how, using local content.
He added that the partnership would afford them the opportunity to train youths across the North-East, Kaduna, and other parts of the region(north).
He said, “We have signed a MoU today with HYPERTECH. The purpose is to de-escalate and entrench skills training in local content. HYPERTECH is the national consultant on local content for Mambilla Hydroelectric power projects and for many other projects across Nigeria.
“We would like to train local youth across North-East, Kaduna and other parts of the North so that we can move up the unemployed youth and give them skills to let them fit into national projects like the Mambilla Hydroelectric power project and the upcoming railway expansion and several other projects across Nigeria.
“Even almajiri are going to be trained. They don’t need to have a Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) to have skill training. The almajiri across the country, almost 15 million of them, will be mobilised, trained and given skills with certification and they can fit into infrastructure projects,” he said.
The managing director of HYPERTECH, Mohammed Mustapha, said the MoU was expected to benefit thousands of almajiri and out-of-school children as well as the unemployed youth.
He said the objective of the MoU was towards national development.