The German government trained 10,000 youths in vocational education between June 2016 and this month, an official of the German National Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), Mr Horst Bauem-feind, has said.
He made this known in Abeokuta at the closing ceremony of the programme.
Bauemfeind explained that this was part of the 1974 bilateral agreement between the two countries.
He said the project, organised by GIZ and implemented under the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TEVET) programme, held in Ogun and Plateau states for two years.
The GIZ official explained that 4,782 youths were trained in Ogun State while 5218 in Plateau, adding that 39 per cent of the beneficiaries were women.
He recalled that his team at the inception of the project in 2016, toured vocational centres and technical colleges in Ogun to identify training needs and subsequently developed programme strategies.
The German explained that the training focused on the construction and agricultural sectors with modules developed for specific areas, such as soil testing, masonry, entrepreneurship, pedagogy and irrigation.
He explained that training guides had also been developed for the modules and would soon be distributed to partners and other stakeholders for sustainability.
“We believe that the training will be sustained after we might have pulled out because we have laid the necessary foundation by exposing the beneficiaries to the German entrepreneurship training model known as “Creating Competency for Competition” (C3).
The National TEVET expert for Ogun, Mr Ibrahim Aliyu, said the team faced the challenge of convincing the youth of the need to acquire vocational skills and to adapt to global best practices.
Aliyu added that motivation for training for the youth had been funding, adding that the financial support from partners had also been very low.
He said the feedback from the field and the testimonies of the beneficiaries had, however, proven that the training had been quite impactful.
“When you consider the total participation, better skills acquired, improved income for beneficiaries and the total multiplier effects among other parameters, one can safely conclude that the programme has been successful,” he said.
He disclosed that the team had secured approval of the German government to run a second phase of the programme from another four years from July to June 2022.
Aliyu said the second phase of the training, which would still run in Ogun and Plateau, would be expanded to cover more areas in the agricultural and construction sectors.
