Skills Acquisition, Gateway To Economic Growth – FOC

The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Naval Doctrine Command, Rear Adm. Akinga Ayafa, has said skills acquisition is one of the guaranteed ways to economic growth and prosperity of the nation.
Ayafa said this during the Graduation Ceremony for participants of the Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre Officers Wives Association (NAFRCOWA) skills acquisition and empowerment programme,  held at Oshodi, Lagos, recently.
The Tide source reports that the programme started with  48 participants comprising widows and wives of Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (NAFRC) personnel and youths residing within the Centre.
The programme, which was conducted over a period of 12 weeks, focused on four areas of specialisation – leather works (shoe and bag making); hairstyling and makeup; soap and cosmetics; and baking (catering services).
The FOC said the nation was faced with several challenges, ranging from insecurity, unemployment and low economic growth amongst others, adding  that the importance of skills acquisition in Nigeria could not be over  emphasised.
“The phenomenon of skills  acquisition has gained unique significance because of its role in socio-economic development of the nation as the driving force in economic growth and job creation.
“One of the major causes of our low economic growth can be attributed to lack of relevant skills among the citizens, leading to over dependency on foreign-made products.
“One good thing about skills acquisition either vocational or technical is that, it has no age limit and everyone has equal opportunity to strive in the open market,” he said.
Ayafa, who was also the Special Guest of Honour, observed that even when people with some of these skills were available, they were grossly inadequate in number to meet the national market demand.
“Therefore, the skills anyone acquires differentiates them from any other person irrespective of their higher academic qualifications or attainment.
“You have been empowered to take up the challenge of alleviating the problems of unemployment in our nation.
“You must take up this challenge by putting into good use the knowledge gained through the establishment of small and medium scale enterprises that will create employment opportunities,” he said.
The FOC also said the skills acquired by the graduating participants could have come with huge financial implication if they had undertaken the training in a private skills acquisition institution.
According to him, the  financial implication was taken care of by the Centre through NAFRCOWA as part of the association’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
“I, therefore, urge you to be passionate, dedicated and innovative in your chosen vocations and ensure that this investment by NAFRCOWA does not go in vain,” he said.