By Tare Youdeowei

Special Adviser on Education to Governor Fashola of Lagos State, Otunba Fatai Olukoga, has affirmed that adequate and efficient investment through Public Private Partnership, PPP, in informal education and capacity building for the youths and women is capable of catapulting the nation’s economy to an enviable height.

Olukoga disclosed this during the 9th graduation of Lagos Agency for Mass Education, in Alausa, Ikeja, which saw the churning-out of 490 vocational trainees.

In the ceremony, he urged the private sector and the multinationals to collaborate with government on safeguarding the nation’s economy through relevant and proactive participation in capacity building and empowerment for the informal sector.

*From left: Otunba Fatai Olukoga, SA on Education to Governor Fashola; and Hon. Wahab King, Chairman, House Committee on Education, Science and Technology, presenting certificate/award and gas cooker to Ihale Ngozi, a catering graduand at the 9th graduation ceremony of vocational trainees by Lagos Agency for Mass Education , in Alausa, Ikeja.

The vocational training which is free of charge has over 466 centres spread across the state and has graduated over 1,500 beneficiaries with skill acquisition in diverse areas of vocation such as hairdressing, fashion designing, catering, beads making, computer, decoration, cosmetology among others   since the Fashola administration came on board in 2007.

Speaking at the event, Olukoga said: “Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developing countries, it is often stigmatized as troublesome and unmanageable.

“However, the informal sector provides critical economy opportunities for the poor and has been expanding rapidly since the 1960s. As such, integrating the informal economy into the formal sector is an important policy challenge but achievable, thus the call for private sector participation.”

Fashola’s aide who affirmed the state government’s commitment and passion for economic boom through self-employment and education for the informal sector, explained that recognizing that the informal economy can produce significant goods and services, create necessary jobs, and contribute to imports and exports is critical for governments at all levels.

Noting that the informal sector plays important roles in the growth and development of the Nigerian economy, he highlighted some to be “Providing productive outlets for a large number of people who prefer or have to be self employed. This sector therefore contributes to the national economy in terms of output and employment. It Provides competition in the economy; provides outlets for experienced specialist manpower from the medium and large scale enterprises who wish to be self-employed, using minimal capital; reduces the level of unemployment; stimulates and enhances innovation.”