22 October 2014, Abuja – The Federal Government has said it will flag-off the National Power Sector Apprentice Scheme (NAPSAS) November 18, to train 7400 Nigerians as craftsmen, linesmen and electricity artisans.
The Director General of the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) Engr. Reuben Okeke hinted this yesterday in Abuja while signing a pact with the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) on the formal recognition of its National Graduate Skills Development Programme (NGSDP)
The signing of the Cooperation Agreement gives formal recognition to the graduate programme, through an integration of the Programme into the NSE’s Corporate Membership Registration process.
Engr. Okeke said “This is the third MOU we are signing. The first was with Schneider Electrics of France, we signed another with GIZ of Germany and we will be signing another with General Electrics in a couple of weeks, and they are all on capacity building.
“Government is working on scaling up human capacity in the power sector and so, President Goodluck Jonathan is about to launch 7400 Nigerian youths to boost human capital in terms of technical skills in the sector.
“By 18 November, Mr President will flag-off the National Power Sector Apprentice Scheme (NAPSAS) to help in the area of craft, to produce more linesmen and artisans in the electricity industry,” he disclosed.
He maintained that the 36 states are expected to produce 200 candidates each with a 50percent sponsorship of the training fee from the federal government. “The apprenticeship scheme has its separate programme so that, as the NGSDP is going on in our eight centres, we have collaborated with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) to use their study centres for the NAPSAS,” he added.
*Simon Echewofun Sunday – Daily Trust
