By Aderonke Ojediran-Lawal
Lagos – The Lagos State Employability Support Project and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) have commenced the training of 150,000 youths on various skills.
The Head of the Employability Support Project, Mrs Ibironke Ogunmade, said at the commencement of the training in Lagos on Thursday that the goal of the initiative was to transform the youths.
According to her the vision of the project is to make Lagosians to improve their livelihood.
“Our mission is to make at least 150,000 youths in Lagos employable and at least 75,000 youths should be gainfully employed.
“Our objective is to strengthen human capital potential of the youths and also to upgrade the technical quality of vocational centres.
“By so doing, we will be building a durable labour market linkage on both demand and supply in Lagos State.’’
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the youths are being trained to increase manpower to address shortages in key sectors such as manufacturing, health care and construction.
Others sectors targeted are entertainment and hospitality.
Candidates coming from the Lagos State Employability portal are to be trained by ArcSkills Professionals.
The Chief Executive Officer of ArcSkills, Mr Amit Washington, said the company was founded to develop communities and support government in nation building.
“We are a trusted training and capacity building service provider for government agencies.
“We don’t just want to help businesses; we also want communities to thrive. Our services have been specifically designed to meet the needs of our communities,’’ he said.