Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The North East Development Commission, NEDC, in partnership with Digital Bridge Institute, DBI, has changed the narrative in the war-torn North-East geopolitical zone from horror to human capacity building as it has commenced the training of youths in the zone on digital vehicular diagnosis.
No fewer than 150 youths have been trained in the zone through the programme which started in May 2022, according to a press release by Head, Public Affairs, DBI, Akin Ogunlade.
The training, according to the release, was designed “to develop, equip, enable, and empower beneficiaries with hands-on skills in vehicular diagnostics and repairs.
The Release read in part: “In May 2022 NEDC and DBI struck a partnership to train 150 Automotive Technicians on Digital Vehicular diagnostics and maintenance at the Institute’s ultramodern campus/learning center in Yola.
“Unlike, most youth empowerment initiatives, the NEDC/DBI partnership was designed to have a preponderance of practical and hands-on skills, with the necessary underpinning knowledge. The training was bench-marked against global standards and the beneficiaries received comparable training and learning experience obtainable in other climes in the world.
“It is also pertinent to state that the programme is one amongst the numerous structured empowerment initiatives of the NEDC; as part of its measures to constructively deal with the challenges being experienced in the North-East geopolitical zone in Nigeria. The programme is part of the measures to support youths of all six states in the North-East and make them self-reliant in a bid to address the restiveness in the region and reduce economic deprivations occasioned by years of insurgency.”
According to the release, the empowerment programmes were designed to help beneficiaries “improve their ability to provide better services to their clients, improve their financial status through their ability to provide digital diagnostic services for vehicles, and also to meet the objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 which seeks to lift people above poverty.”
It quoted one of the beneficiaries in Yola, Mr John Drambi, of saying that the training had completely transformed his business and attracted new customers to his workshop.
Drambi was further quoted as saying that he had also been able to institute a skills transfer scheme in his workshop to train his apprentices on how to do digital vehicle diagnostics and interpret the results of digital diagnostics checks on automobiles using the Onboard Diagnostic Tool and other devices he was given as a starter pack after the training.
“Mr. Drambi added that, with the experience, he gathered during the training, more customers patronise his workshop,” the release said.
He thanked the North East Development Commission (NEDC) and Digital Bridge Institute for putting smiles on the faces of Automotive Technicians in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria and for also issuing beneficiaries a competency certificate that validates their skill.
Drambi solicited that the intervention be extended to his other colleagues because so many people in their automotive technician trade would need these skills.
Meanwhile, DBI, has expressed gratitude to NEDC for its choice of the institute as its preferred training intervention partner.
“DBI acknowledges the visionary effort of the Executive Vice Chairman of its parent organization; the Nigerian Communications Commission, for building and commissioning the Yola Campus of the Institute.
“The Campus provides amazing training facilities that can be used by development partners for capacity-building measures,” the release added.
