The Federal Government said it had begun revamping the Federal Ministry of Works’ Central Workshop in Ijora, Lagos, for mass job creation and training of artisans.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Alhaji Babangida Hussaini, said this during the inspection of facilities at the Central Workshop on Wednesday.
He said the obeselete equipment at the workshop were being replaced to make it live up to its mandate of job creation and training of artisans to bridge the skills gap in the country.
He said the Ministry of Works and Housing would soon submit its recommendations for consideration by the Federal Executive Council to revamp the Central Workshop of the Mechanical and Electrical Development Skills section.
Babangida said the workshop had previously served as an industrial hub for fabrication and production of mechanical, automotive and electrical parts as well as a training school.
Hussaini, who led a delegation of directors of the Ministry from both Lagos and Abuja on the inspection of the centre said it’s production capacity had declined due to obselete equipment.
He said the ministry was determined to pursue the immediate reactivation of the centre by December this year for improved training of graduates and non-graduates in craftsmanship.
“This will be followed by a full scale revamp as from January 2022, with the possible option of a Public-Private-Partnership.
“This will restore the glory of the centre and make it achieve the National Economic Sustainability Plan of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration,” he said.
He said the Minister of Works and Housing had earlier inspected the facility and that his was on an assessment tour of the centre towards making policy recommendations.
He said short and long term measures would be adopted to train artisans in various fields to bridge the skill gap while generating millions of jobs in line with policy of the Buhari rigime.
“The National Sustainability plan of this administration and the vision of Mr President is to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Permanent Secretary interacted with artisans undergoing training at the facility’s training section, assuring them of government’s commitment to sustaining the Centre.
He said the centre’s foundry machines had already been replaced with new models in the Lagos centre and another in Kuje, Abuja, as part of ongoing upgrade of the facilities, which were over 50 years old.
He said all hands would be on deck to ensure new technologies were adopted, while also supporting ongoing plan to continue the production of railway parts as was done in the past. (NAN)
