FG’s T-MAX project targets 2,000 youths in Gombe State
The Federal Government says it has targeted 2,000 youth and women for vocational and technical education training programme in Gombe State.
The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Education Intervention, Fela Bank-Olemoh stated this during a courtesy visit to Gov. Inuwa Yahaya, on Wednesday in Gombe.
He said the youth would be trained under the T-MAX project, a Federal Government’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme.
T-MAX is part of the Federal Government’s initiative designed to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030.
The project seeks to empower 15,000 persons in Lagos, Ogun, Edo, Enugu, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Gombe States.
Bank-Olemoh said that 2,000 youths would be trained under pilot phase of the project from August to December 2022, in Gombe State.
He said vocational skills had proven to be a veritable tool to empower people for self-reliance, hence the government was leveraging on it to empower Nigerians and improve the wellbeing of citizens.
According to him, the youths will receive training in 16 trades at existing TVET centres to enhance their entreprising skill to impact positively on the economy of the state.
He said that biometric data capture would be conducted for the participating youths to ensure effective monitoring and supervision of the trainees.
“We will partner with the state government in verifying the equipment of the TVET centres to ensure that the necessary equipment needed are available for the exercise,” he said.
Responding, Yahaya commended the Federal Government for the gesture, adding that youth empowerment was a tool to fight poverty.
He said the gesture complemented state government’s efforts to address unemployment and eradicate poverty.
Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Ibrahim Njodi, the governor said his administration accorded pririoty to youth and women empowerment.
While pledging support to the programme, Yahaya urged the youths to take advantage of the project to learn skills to enable them to become self-reliant.
Also speaking, Hajiya Mariam Abubakar, Coordinator, Ru’uda International Academy, Skills Acquisition Centre, described the project as critical to poverty eradication in the country.
