Abia Government has said that building a human capital base of skilled, knowledgeable and psychologically-balanced citizens will accelerate the process of development of the state.
Chief Anthony Agbazuere, the Chief of Staff to Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, said this on Tuesday, when the officials of the Abia State Education for Employment Agency visited him at the Government House, Umuahia.
Agbazuere described the agency as an “all important” outfit of government, saying that its programmes would help to improve Abia economy.
He said that the agency would play a pivotal role in actualising Abia government’s development agenda.
Agbazuere said that government would deploy necessary resources to ensure that the agency succeeded in its mandate to produce skilled workforce for the Abia.
Earlier, the Director-General of the agency, Mr Ndubuisi Ezengwa, said the organisation was focusing on ways to improve the human capital base of Abia, particularly in skill acquisition and Information Communication Technology.
He said the objective was to standardise and professionalise the practice of artisans in the state in order to make locally made goods to meet international standard.
Ezengwa said the agency had taken steps to upgrade the existing skill acquisition training institutions in the state to facilitate the training of youths in different skills.
He said that the agency had also evolved a mechanism to provide an avenue that would make skill acquisition and ICT training programmes accessible to Abia youths.
According to him, about 36,000 youths in the state have been profiled, with plans to train and assist them to get placed in the occupation that matched their skills.
Ezengwa thanked the state government for supporting the agency but pointed out that it was grappling with some challenges that impeded the realization of its objectives.
He listed some of the challenges to include the paucity of funds, lack of recognition as a fully-fledged agency and the absence of conducive office accommodation.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to come to its rescue to enable it to realise its mandate.
