By Ibrahim Hassan, Kaduna

The Executive Secretary National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE), Prof. Bashir H.Usman, has called on the Kaduna State Government and other states in the country to provide adequate teachers and infrastructure for Nomadic Primary Schools as well as include the training of Nomadic Youths in their programmes.

Prof Bashir Usman spoke at the opening ceremony of a 3 Day Capacity Development Workshop for Nomadic Youths and Women on Skills Acquisition and Sustainable Livelihood hold in Kaduna.

He said the workshop was one of the several trainings conducted for one of their clients to be encouraged, guided and supported to adopt modern entrepreneurship skills and sustainable livelihoods organized by the Commission in its state-of-the-art Skills Acquisition Centre located at the Headquarters.

“I consider this very important 3-day training workshop for our youths and women and other participating critical stakeholders from the states very apt and timely,” he said

He said teaming youths and women were very eager to imbibe relevant vocational education and value orientation skills which play a key role in providing food security and income to millions of families and their communities.

“These communities are faced with challenges of poverty, climate change, illiteracy and insecurity. In an effort to address some of the key challenges in the Sector, the Commission developed a variety of approaches one of which is the promotion of community-driven and need-based programmes in the area of youths and women vocational education and value orientation,” he said.

“As part of the efforts by the Commission to promote the delivery of relevant and functional skills, extension education and services to the various nomadic communities across the country, the Commission conducted Participatory Needs Assessment and Identification of Trainees for this important skills acquisition training on livestock and dairy development, fashion design and Hairdressing among the six benefiting states across the six geo-political zones namely; Anambra, Delta, FCT, Katsina, Osun and Yobe.”

“The exercise facilitated in providing evidence-based data from 321 respondents for planning and implementation of the capacity development training for the youths and women gathered here today.”

“You will bear with me that empowering the youths and women is the means through which they are assisted to succeed in life and have the opportunity to develop the ability they need to become role models who can influence their communities and earn a living for socio-economic and sustainable livelihoods development. Youths and women empowerment is of importance to both nations and the empowered.”

“With Youths and women empowerment, the future prosperity of nations is secured because these are the people that are future entrepreneurs of any nation. When they are empowered, through need-based skills, their societies become a good place for all to live. They will assist in the economic activities of the society where they find themselves and in turn, both families and the entire nation benefits.”

“The Commission’s initiative of empowering the youths and women through Vocational
Education and Value Orientation can go a long way in reducing the poverty percentage of
many rural societies, reducing restiveness, and social vices such as cattle rustling, kidnapping, raping, rural banditry, piracy and incessant conflicts leading to wanton destruction of lives and properties. When youths and women learn new vocational education and values, they can use the orientations learned to feed, send their children to school, assist others with employment and even invest for the future.”

“The vocational orientations one learnt can assist him till the end of his life. Youths and women who are empowered with improved animal husbandry skills can earn from it sustainably till he/she dies. The various skills provided in this all-important training workshop provide the trainees with artistic, manipulative, life coping, lifelong communicative Empowerment Skills, Intellectual Empowerment Skills as well as problem-solving skills: Overall, empowerment with skills and acquisition training are basically to ensure poverty eradication, good education standard, job creation, good governance, security/crime reduction, national growth, technological development and employment, wealth creation and self-reliance,” he said.

He appreciated the massive response of guests and resource persons “which clearly demonstrates their unflinching commitment and support to the Commission towards the successful conduct of this training workshop.”

“While commending you in your effort to give quality education to our very hard-to-reach nomads, I urge you to be more determined in ensuring that all out-of-school nomadic children totalling 3.5 million are enrolled in our schools,” he said.

Prof. Usman called on the participants to take the training seriously to learn and practice what has been taught to achieve the set objectives and targets.

“I would also like to urge the facilitators to make the training interactive, practical and participatory to enable the participants to adequately tap from their expertise and wealth of experience. May I also use this medium to express our profound gratitude to the present administration under the able leadership of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, the support of the Federal Ministry of Education, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) under the able leadership of Dr Hamidu Bobboyi for their continuous support in funding the programmes of our Commission.”

” I also wish to call on the Kaduna State Government and other states in the Country to provide adequate teachers and infrastructure for Nomadic Primary Schools as well as include the training of Nomadic Youths in their programmes. While thanking Kaduna State for being an excellent host as well as for supporting the Nomadic Education Programme (NEP) over the years and its good people for their outstanding hospitality and cooperation,” he said.