Govt Trains 1,002 Mechanics On New Car Handling

The Federal Government said it had concluded a three-week training programme for 1,002 auto technicians on how to repair new generation vehicles. This was made known by the Director-General, National Automotive Council, Mr. Aminu Jalal, in a speech delivered at the closing ceremony of the training in Lagos on Friday. A statement issued from the agency on Sunday said the training was done in collaboration with the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria. Jalal said the 1,002 participants for the programme were drawn from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, adding that about 1,004 technicians were also trained last year in a similar exercise. According to him, the training is aimed at equipping the auto technicians with the necessary skills to repair modern generation vehicles in order to retain their jobs. He said, “This is in line with the newly approved National Automotive Industry Development Plan. Some years ago, NAC conducted a skill gap analysis of mechanics in Nigeria on the knowledge of Nigerian mechanics and the basic needs for vehicle repairs. Unfortunately, it was observed that a lot of Nigerian mechanics lacked the skills or equipment to properly maintain modern vehicles. “As a result of this, NAC began various training programmes for auto workers from 2006 to date and this training programme that is rounding off today is one of the numerous programmes embarked upon by the council. The council, in collaboration with the SURE-P and SMEDAN, put in serious efforts to make this training a success. “NAC provided the trainers, training manuals, books and other logistic support. SMEDAN provided entrepreneurship training, while the Sure-P financed the whole programme ,including the empowerment tools.” Source:punch