BENIN CITY- No fewer than 467 trainees who participated in the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP) Phase 11 programme in Edo were on Wednesday given starter packs.
The beneficiaries were trained by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) in Collaboration with the Edo government for about three months.

Speaking at the close of the NISDP Phase 11 in Edo held at government house in Benin, the Director General of ITF, Sir Joseph Ari, said the initiative to equip youths with skills was the Vision of President Muhammadu Buhari to allow for sustainable development in the country.

Ari commended the Edo governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki for ensuring that every trainee of the programme got starter packs saying that it would go a long way to unleash the entrepreneurship spirit in the beneficiaries.
‘’It gladdens my heart that Edo State under the leadership of his Excellency Mr Godwin Obaseki is taking concrete steps to turn this youth bulge into an opportunity by bringing skills acquisition and empowerment to the front burner, this is the way to go’’.

The DG also commended the Gov. Godwin led administration for investing in vocational education noting that the institute was ready to partner more with the state to train more man power at the Benin Technical College.
Meanwhile, Gov. Obaseki said that the importance of skills acquisition in achieving the over 200,000 employment initiative of his administration could not be overemphasized.
The governor commended ITF for living up to its mandate of promoting the acquisition of skills to meet the commercial and industrial need of the country.

‘’We want to change the opinion that vocational skills is inferior to white collar jobs. We must create Small and medium enterprises for our nation to develop because it is the most viable way to create jobs”.
The governor urged the beneficiaries not to sell the starter packs assuring them he would make working capital available to them and the progress of their businesses would be monitored.

According to the governor, the participants were drawn from across the 18 local government councils of the state and were trained in Fashion design, Pastry, wielding and Fabrication and Information Communication and Technology.
The starter packs given to the trainees were 150 sewing machines, 142 ovens and gas cylinders, 50 Wielding machines and 125 complete computer sets.