The Kwara state government has approved 23 trades under its standard vocational skill acquisition programme designed to promote youth employment and entrepreneurship in the state. 

Speaking during an official flag-off and interactive session with 60 accredited master trainers, the state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, informed that the exercise marked another major drive to reform skill acquisition and equip youths with necessary tools for entrepreneurship.

He added that the resolve of the government to identify and engage master trainers was borne out of a desire to benchmark skill acquisition centres against global standards, expose master trainers to the latest technologies in their respective trades, promote uniformity in the standard of practice, and in the process, reduce youth employment.

The governor emphasised that with the streamlining of skill acquisition in the state, artisans would be able to charge uniform fees for their services while consumers will be assured of quality service.

Governor Ahmed assured the participants that once they join cooperative societies they would benefit from his administration’s “revolving micro-credit scheme for micro, small and medium scale enterprises under which over 30,000 small business have benefited”.

The governor charged the skill acquisition committee to design fool-proof arrangements for monitoring of the scheme in order to achieve desired objectives.

Also speaking, the special assistant to the governor on tertiary education, Samuel Ajayi announced that the selection of the master trainers was done through a rigorous process.