• 22 Hospitality sets up academy to train youths
The Federal Government is working with a private company in the Hospitality industry, 22 Hospitality Limited, to train youths to become employable.
The training, the company said, is meant to boost human capacity among youths in the industry.
22 Hospitality Limited said it will soon open an academy to train youth and improve their chances of getting good jobs.
The company, according to a statement by its Head of Corporate Affairs, Lawal Taofeek, said it would undertake the skills sets development of the youth in the industry in collaboration with the Federal Government.
22 Hospitality Limited recently acquired a majority stake in Capital Hotel Plc, owners of Abuja Sheraton Hotel, in a landmark deal which the company said was aimed at restoring the hotel to its past glory as the first choice hospitality provider in Abuja.
It said the acquisition was also a strategic drive targeted at making the hotel carve a niche for itself by becoming a leading hospitality firm offering premium services to customers in accordance with world standards.
22 Hospitality Limited said its proposed academy would also serve as an avenue to improve the skills of employees that would be reabsorbed, following the shutdown of the hotel by Capital Hotel Plc for its needed rehabilitation.
22 Hospitality Limited said the new outfit, with the consent of the Federal Government, would reduce unemployment and create new sets of highly skilled manpower that can compete favourably with their peers across the world.
The company said enormous human and material resources would be invested in the academy to make it stand out as a world standard organisation with the principal aim of manpower development in the sector.
22 Hospitality Limited added that the initiative was borne out of its desire to bridge the global shortage of trained and experienced hospitality human resources, following reliable statistics that showed there are currently more than one million job vacancies for housekeepers, waiters, chefs, security personnel, IT and maintenance personnel in the hospitality industry.
The company said products of the academy could also seek international jobs in view of the global dearth of the industry professionals.
It also said the academy would provide an army of employable Nigerian youths who would soon become game changers in manpower development in the industry.
It added that the feat would assist government in tackling the unemployment challenge in the country.