Vice President of Lagos State Council of Craftsmen and Artisans, Alhaji Nurudeen Buhari, on Thursday said that local technicians needed more training to meet international best practices.

Buhari told our correspondent in Lagos that the much needed technological transformation of Nigeria was hinged on the number of available skilled craftsmen and artisans.

“ The issues of training cannot be over emphasised.

“If we are to be seen moving towards our international counterparts in the area of technological development, we must address the issue of training our technicians.

“Good enough, the Lagos State Government’s emphasis on technical education in school curriculum will move us more towards attaining best practices in our craftsmanship.

“That is why I say we need more vocational centres in the country to train our artisans, “ he said.

Buhari said that Nigeria might not be able to attain rapid technological development if it did not take the issue of training of her craftsmen seriously.

“The issue of training and retraining should be taken as a paramount policy objective of government because its full realisation will lead to optimum capacity utilisation of technicians, “ he said.

Buhari said that governments at all level ought to engage indigenous artisans more often in their projects to have positive impact on the local economy.

“We, craftsmen in Lagos commend the state government for charging its ministries, departments and agencies to always use us in executing their projects.

“The more they give us jobs to do, the better for the state’s economy and the better for the state in terms of reducing crimes,“ he said.