BOI, NBTE Organize Skill Acquisition Contest for Unemployed Youths

The Bank of Industry (BoI) in collaboration with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) is organising a skills acquisition contest among youths across the country. The contestant will be tested in seven key vocational areas such automotive/mechatronics, carpentry/joinery, fashion design, electrical and electronics, painting and tiling, plumbing and fittings and welding and fabrication.

The contest, which is expected to take place in Lagos, would produce the first three contestants who would slug it out  during the grand finale in Abuja on March 19. Apart from providing intern-ship for the successful candidates, BoI is also expected to provide loan facilities for them.

According to the acting managing director, BoI, Mr Waheed Olagunju, the programme was initiated as part of the bank’s strategies to provide the needed linkage between the nation’s available skills and market demands.

Olagunju lamented that there has been consistent dearth of required skills for the industry because the skills being produced by the institutions did  not relate to industrial demands. He stated that  the lack of requisite skills was what forced Aliko Dangote to source for over 30,000 wielders from outside the country to work in his cement factories.