FG trains 100,000 youths on brick moulding

No fewer than 100,000 youths are to benefit from a special bricks moulding training programme, Ambassador Obi Adim, Special Adviser to the President on Youth Empowerment, said on Monday.

Adim, who was represented by the National Coordinator of IYEEP, Nwoke Obinna, said this at Apo village, Abuja, while inspecting brick-moulding machines imported from South Africa for distribution to all the 36 states of the federation.

According to him, 774 of the machines will be distributed to the states for training designed to uplift the socio-economic status of the prospective beneficiaries under the Integrated Youth Economic Empowerment Programme (IYEEP).

“We are passionate about transferring this skill and this skill is all about brick-making. We know that we have our normal brick moulders.

“But, this one is not like what we used to know. We have an automated machine, imported equipment, for brick production in commercial quantity.

He said that the machines, which cost $120,000 (N1.9m) per unit, would also be used in producing other cement-related products such as interlock tiles and rings for culverts.

He disclosed that beneficiaries of the programme in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would have ready market for their products.

The special adviser also revealed that the bricks that would be produced during the programme would be used to build 6,000 housing units in furtherance of a housing project in FCT.

According to him, some of the moulding machines would be allocated to Kaduna State for the effective implementation of the recently signed MoU on IYEEP between his office and the state government.

He expressed optimism that the programme would help address the problem of youth unemployment across the country.