NTDC trains 52 youths, women on various skills

The Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) on Monday embarked on a skills acquisition and empowerment training for 52 youths and women in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The acting Director General of the corporation, Mrs Mariel Rae-Omoh said the two-weeks training would hold in all the six area councils in the FCT.

According to the director general, similar training will be held in all the six geo-political zones of the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training is in local weaving, furniture and beads making, tye and dye, hair weaving, hat making, asoke and gyele tying, soap and izal making.

Rae-Omoh said the aim was to empower the youths and women with life long skills that would provide them with sustainable income and enable them to be employers of labour.

“ Our target is also to facilitate and provide small scale tourism enterprises the opportunity to grow,” she added.

She therefore encouraged the participants to utilize the opportunity effectively to acquire skills and generate income.

“ This programe provides an opportunity for youths and women or the unemployed to be empowered for self-reliance.

“The tourism sector is Nigeria’s hidden treasure as it provides huge and endless opportunities to earn income through small scale business enterprises,’’ she stressed.

She reiterated the commitment of NTDC in partnering with other stakeholders towards developing the tourism sector in view of the dwindling revenue from the oil sector.

“ Now that the country is face to face with dwindling oil revenue, the urgency of looking elsewhere cannot be over-emphasised and the tourism sector provides a preferred option.”

A participant, Mrs Blessing Sule, a widow and mother of five, said the beads making training would enable her develop a skill that would provide her steady income with which to train her children.

Also, Kufre Thomas, a 300-level student of the Open University, said the tye and dye training would offer her a source of income and reduce reliance on her family for financial support.

Thomas, added that the training would enable her produce some materials to sell in school.

On his own part, Yusuf Mananseh, a trainee in soap and izal making, said he plans to set up a small company to produce and sell the product in his village.

Mananseh added that he hopes to employ youths in his locality and train them to be self reliant.