The President of Dangote Group, Alh. Aliko Dangote has announced that his conglomerate will work with the government of Kano state towards actualizing the objectives of establishing the Multi billion Naira Aliko Dangote Ultra Modern Skills Acquisition Center, constructed by the Ganduje administration, the state capital.
During an unscheduled visit to the center on Sunday morning, Alh. Aliko Dangote, who was overwhelmed by its size and the assorted equipment installed noted that Governor Ganduje’s vision regarding skills acquisition was in line with his determination to help Nigerian youths develop skills that would help them to succeed in life.
“I must congratulate the governor for having this vision. This center is by far much better than the one we set up at Obajana. I will not only serve the people of Kano state but other states in the federation”, he said.
“We have the Cement Institute which we want to train about 100, 000 Nigerians every year and the work is in progress. But we are really going to partner with this new center to train as many youth as possible”, added.
In this regard, Alh. Dangote promised that his organization would hire an experienced expatriate to head the Naira Aliko Dangote Ultra Modern Skills Acquisition Center and to set the pace for sustainability.
According to him, “We will take the cost of hiring the head so that we can set a standard. We want the standard to be very high. We want it to be the best in Sub – Saharan Africa so that we can catch up with places like Egypt, who have got similar enters”.
Describing the investment mad by Kano state government in the center as historical and worthy, Alh. Dangote advised it to increase the number of potential trainees from 500 to 1, 000 at a time, considering the needs of the society.
Conducting Alh. Dangote round the complex, Gov. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje explained that the project, in which billions of Naira was invested in term of infrastructure and equipment, was envisioned to close the existing gap between education and employability in the state.
“This was conceived in an attempt to make our huge population an asset rather than a liability. We need to create jobs, to provide our young men with skills so that they can actively contribute to the economic prosperity of the country”, he maintained.
Dr. Ganduje stated that “a study was commissioned before we embarked upon the project and 24 manpower gaps were identified. We have made provision for 20 gasp to be addressed here while the remaining for areas, which are agriculture – based would be accommodated somewhere within the state”.
To ensure sustainability, the governor announced that indigenes of the state would be offered scholarships to study at the center, while trainees from other states and the private sector would be charged some fees. He further revealed that plans are in the offing to construct hostels to accommodate prospective artisans at the center.
The state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Mu’azu Magaji, explained that the center has the potential to create major skills that can earn revenue for the state adding that, “the Dangote organization will be an end user of a lot of specialized training we will offer here”.
