The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has flagged off the training of 4,800 out-of-school youths on skills acquisition to be self-reliant and employers of labour in Borno.
Speaking at Muna Vocational Enterprise Institute in Maiduguri on Monday, the UNICEF’s Chief of Field Office, Phuong T. Nguyen, noted that the training is targeted at improving learning outcomes through the delivery of foundational literacy and numeracy skills because many adolescents in Nigeria are not developing the transferable, digital, and job-specific skills they need to break out of poverty.
She explained that UNICEF has partnered with the Borno Government with the view to ensuring that the most vulnerable children, including adolescents, have free access to quality education, learning and acquiring skills for the future, including in emergency contexts.
According to her, UNICEF will train 4,800 out-of-school youths under a Norway-funded project Safe, Inclusive Learning Skills for All (SILSA), by the year 2025.
Nguyen was represented by the UNICEF Officer-In-Charge, Samuel Bayo who mentioned that there is an urgent need to transform education and learning systems in Nigeria to ensure that all children and adolescents are provided with both quality learning opportunities and entrepreneurship skills programmes to enable them to become active members of their society.
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“Through the funding from the Government of Norway, UNICEF will be supporting the Borno State Government through the Ministry of Education Science, Technology, and Innovation (MoESTI) to train 4,800 adolescents/out-of-school youth by 2025. Out of this number, 3,200 beneficiaries will be trained this year.
“UNICEF plans to provide them with starter packs after the graduation. It is expected that the knowledge and skills to be acquired will encourage them to pursue their education and engage in businesses to build their self-reliance.
“During the first year of implementing the SILSA project, 8,082 (4,218 girls) out-of-school children had access to education in formal or Sangaya schools in Borno.”
Assured that UNICEF will continue to support the Borno government’s focus on vocational skills training in line with its agenda for human capital development.
He urged the trainees to ensure regular attendance and commitment while participating in the training, which is a great opportunity for them.
Speaking, the Borno commissioner of education, science and technology, Engr. Lawan Wakilbe extended the gratitude of Borno out-of-school youths to UNICEF for promoting basic education in the state.
