Ogun to partner German agency, GIZ, on vocational skill development

By Dada Jackson

Ogun State Government has mapped out plans to collaborate with Deutsche Gesellscraft fur International Zisammenarbeit (GIZ), a German Agency for International Cooperation, in designing programmes that will focus on acquisition of appropriate skills for students in technical colleges across the state.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Technical Education, Prof. Joseph Odemuyiwa, dropped the hint during a courtesy visit by the GIZ team to his Oke Mosan office in Abeokuta.
He thanked the team for its willingness to support the present administration’s efforts in revamping the technical education sector, adding that this step would contribute to the development of the society as well as secure the future of the teeming youth and reduce unemployment in the state.
He enjoined stakeholders in the state to also support government in reviving technical colleges, appreciating the collaborations that had been enjoyed in the past.
He noted that Ogun schools had adopted new policies in their scheme of work as 30 per cent of training would be conducted in the classroom and 70 per cent in industrial training
The head of the GIZ team, Mr Detlef Barth, said his organisation would create a job centre platform that would focus on capacity development, training of craftsmen and technical professionals, curriculum development, among others.
He explained that aside from infrastructural development of technical colleges, GIZ was working on total revamping of the curriculum as well as focus on including industrial skill needs in the school curriculum, noting that this would ensure building more competence-based curriculum.
The Technical Advisor for Employment Promotion at the GIZ, Mr Ibrahim Aliyu, explained that the organisation had carried out a survey on the labour needs in industries across the state, emphasising that the result had motivated them to invest more in vocational and skills acquisition training in Ogun schools to meet up in the area of human capital needs.