The Senate, last week, supported a bill for an act to establish Federal College of Skills Acquisition and Technology, Agulu, Anambra State. CHUKWU DAVID reports on the reasons behind the proposed college as presented by the sponsor of the bill, Senator Victor Umeh

On Wednesday November 28, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, overwhelmingly supported a bill for the establishment of Federal College of Skills Acquisition and Technology in Agulu, Anambra State. The bill was sponsored by Senator Victor Umeh.

After receiving the backing of the apex assembly, without a single dissenting voice among the senators, the legislative proposal, was accordingly read for the second time. The bill was also referred to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND for further legislative action.

Leading debate on the general principles of the bill, Senator Umeh, who represents Anambra Central Senatorial District on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), recalled that the bill was read the first time in the Chamber on July 3, 2024.

He explained that the acquisition of technical and technological skills is a major requirement for the advancement and development of any nation, stressing that empowering our youths through technical and technological education is a sure way of curtailing unemployment in the country.

The lawmaker, who observed that Nigeria presently ranks among nations with very high level of youth unemployment as millions of youths are idling away without any visible means of livelihood, decried that this situation has significantly contributed to the high level of Insecurity, in line with a saying that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.

He said that these idle youths could be salvaged through empowering them with technical skills, which could help them to be employed in the construction industry and possibly be self-employed.

He said: “It is for these reasons that this bill seeks to establish a college where technical skills can be acquired in sundry services like; bricklaying, electrical installations, plastering, roofing, plumbing, painting, cooling systems / refrigeration, carpentry, steel fabrications, welding, ceiling POPs, iron bending and fitting. Indeed, the list is endless. People with these skills are the backbone of the construction industry in any nation.”

Umeh noted that Nigeria could leverage on establishing colleges where these skills could be acquired as a means of creating job opportunities for our teeming large youth population, and that indeed, Nigeria needs not less than 5,000 of such colleges to achieve the fundamental objectives of the proposal.

According to him, in America and other developed countries of the world, great emphasis is placed on skills acquisition among the youth, particularly those not in pursuit of degrees in tertiary Institutions. He added that the trainees are certified and properly registered and coordinated.

Debate and contributions by senators

In their various contributions, Senators Tony Nwoye, Adams Oshiomhole, Francis Ezenwa and others articulated the gains of the proposed college for the teeming army of unemployed youth in the country.

After exhaustive debate on the bill, the Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin, who presided over the plenary session, put it to voice vote, and all the senators present approved its passage for second reading. Barau therefore, referred it to the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND, for further legislative consideration.

Umeh speaks on the bill

Briefing journalists on the bill after plenary, Senator Umeh, who took time to clarify the driving force behind the initiative, explained that the bill is not controversial at all and that it would be of immense benefits to Nigeria as a country, canvassing that if and when the bill is passed into law, the college should be established across the country.

His words: “My bill is not a controversial bill. Usually, when controversial matters are involved, I spend time to canvass my view with arguments in support of any side that tilts on a national issue.

So, today is a very peaceful day. My bill is a bill for an Act to establish Federal College of Skills Acquisition and Technology in Agulu, Anambra State. “From the introduction, you could see that all the senators present at the plenary supported the bill.

Due to time constraints, about six of them spoke in support. And many others were raising their hands to support the bill. This prompted the presiding officer to ask: ‘Is there anybody against this bill,’ and all of them said no. So, there was a unanimous support for the bill. And it is very clear and simple. It is not difficult to understand why.

“The bill targets to establish a platform for impacting skills on our youths; people who don’t have anything they are doing, but roaming the streets begging for money; sending you messages for help and support, when they can actually be self-employed, if they have the opportunity to acquire these skills that will keep them to be very important people in the society.

“The targeted people are the who will be trained to acquire skills in the daily activities both in the construction sector and in the homes: people will be trained to become electricians, plumbers, bricklayers, refrigeration repairers, cooling systems and all those things in domestic use and in the construction industry such as iron benders, feeders; those people that are in need in the construction industry.

“They need to be trained. Often times, people who render these services are people who went through apprenticeship, and learnt it not with the necessary education and technical skills that they need to be able to do that. People who are very experienced in this field are very short in supply in the construction industry.

And if we are able to get our young people to go to this College and receive the necessary training and acquire the skills, they will be very employable. “They can even stay on their own. Most times, people go into construction of houses before you start seeing engineers.

They are people who learn technical drawing and they are building houses, even though it is not permitted, because building regulations demand that you have to acquire necessary skills to embark on construction. That is why you have a lot of houses collapsing everywhere. But these are people who are needed to service the construction industry.

“You don’t need to be an engineer to be an iron bender, a welder, a carpenter and those who can learn how to roof a house. So, those are the people we are talking about. And we need to provide such facilities, not only in my place am sponsoring this bill to establish the school. Such school should be established across Nigeria.

We have young people who will want to go in, stay away for two years and come back well equipped with their working tools to engage in services they will render to people and get money. “In America, for example, they are called the handymen.

For you to be trained as a handyman, if you specialise in cooling systems, if your cooling systems develop fault, you call the handyman. He will arrive with his kit car (truck), get into your house, before you know it, he has spotted what the problem is and fixed it for you and then collect $200, $300 as the case may be and zoom off.

“We should be able to have such people with such skills in our place. People you can call when you have problem and they will arrive. It should be well coordinated with people who have acquired skill through education.

They will be licenced and registered, so that they will be very easy to deal with and you get satisfaction. “The construction industry can hire them as well. There is no number of youths that can engage in this process. We have a lot of people who don’t have anything that they are doing.

So, that’s why I thought about this college, and as soon as I came up with this bill for second reading, it resonated with all the senators because they understand the purpose of the college.

“Today, in construction sites in Abuja here, most people who do plastering and ceiling are people from Togo, Benin and Ghana, while our people are here loitering around. And these are things they can do and do better.

They lack the platform to acquire these skills. “I am sure that if we get this College established, within three years of producing people from there, these people from Togo, Benin and Ghana will go back to their countries and work.

We then start supplying this labour to our needs in Nigeria. “So, that’s what I did and the bill scaled second reading, and was referred to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND for further legislative action.

So, people will be preparing, waiting for this college to come on stream and then they leave the streets to go and acquire the skills and help themselves. The bill is creative and not controversial. It is a bill that will support national development in all ramifications.”