19th August, 2014
The minister said that the ministry had collaborated with Galaxy Backbone to train and empowered 1, 000 Nigerian with laptop computers.
He said that the National Automotive Council (NAC) had equally trained and empowered 1, 000 technicians with relevant tools.
Wogu said the ministry’s partnership with the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) had led to training and empowering of 1, 000 housing and construction artisans.
According to him, not less than 5, 000 jobs have been created by the intervention in SURE-P.
Managing Director of NRC, Adeseyi Sijuade, said it was important to develop human resources to accelerate the transformation of railway.
Sijuwade said the corporation had benefited from SURE-P funding in areas of railway rehabilitation, railway modernisation and the procurement of rolling stock and training.
“Today’s flag-off is in recognition of the funding intervention of SURE-P in sustaining training of NRC human resources required to operate and maintain our assets.
“I strongly believe that at the end of the programme, the participants would have been well-groomed, knowledgeable and ready to enhance productivity,” Sijuwade said.
President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Abdulwahid Omar, commended the Federal Government for its intervention in transforming the rail transports.
Umar, represented by his vice, Issa Aremu, said the training would create skills necessary for the rail transport’s transformation.
“There are a lot of jobs, but there is a skill gap, we are adding value to create the skill necessary for the railway sector.
“Railway is not just moving thousands of passengers, and delivering transport services, railway sector is also a home for decent work.
“And for us in labour what is happening today is of historic importance; the first generation of trade unions in Nigeria was Nigerian Union of Railways men,” Omar said.