LAFARGE AFRICA EMPOWERS NIGERIAN YOUTHS WITH TECHNICAL SKILLS
As part of efforts to improve the employability of young Nigerians and increase the nation’s GDP, Lafarge Africa Plc has demonstrated its commitment to reducing the manpower deficit in the manufacturing sector through rigorous industrial training for technicians in its Ewekoro technical and training institute.
To reduce the growing manpower deficit, especially semi-skilled labour in the manufacturing industry, Lafarge Africa Plc recently graduated a new set of students drawn from its host communities in Ewekoro and Sagamu.
The capacity development initiative is part of the company’s effort to empower young school leavers with the prerequisite knowledge for industrial operations, as well as National Business and Technical Education Board (NABTEB) for possible admission into the Universities of their choice to further their studies.
Fidelia Osime, Organization and Human Resources Director, Lafarge Africa, noted that the technical apprentice programme is expedient, against the backdrop of the undue influx of semi-skilled workers from the neighbouring African countries that have taken over industrial operations in many manufacturing firms in the country.
“We have designed the Cement Professional Technician Programme (CPTP) and Technical Apprentice Programme to adequately train youths in the cement manufacturing process.
“It is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative hinged on five pillars: health, safety, education, infrastructure as well as a clean environment. We believe that programmes like these will help to bridge the skills gap in the cement production industry,” Osime stated.
Femi Adekunle, Head, HR and Industrial Relations said: “It is an idea geared towards empowering science-oriented secondary school leavers in our host communities – first, to offer employment opportunities and second, to help them further their academics to the University level,” he said.
Adekunle explained that the training programme, which started as an 18-month programme, had been upgraded to a 36-month scheme. The programme now runs alongside the Cement Professional Technician Program (CPTP), with a wider selection coverage area and upgrading from non-residential to a full boarding system.
Folusho Samuel, Director of Projects, Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), celebrated the initiative, revealing that some of the trainees have already received job offers from multinational companies.
She pledged that NECA would continue to work with the private sector to ensure that all the graduating technicians are fully engaged.
