The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has expressed readiness to partner with the Ladi Memorial Foundation (LMF) on the UNESCO-supported National Sewing Championship in 2024, the first sewing national competition in Nigeria.
Speaking while receiving a delegation from the Ladi Memorial Foundation (LMF) and partners of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) pilot sewing competition in the FCT in 2023 in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of the Education Secretariat, Dr. Danlami Hayyo, commended the organization’s initiative.
He said skills training is key to solving Nigeria’s unemployment crisis while growing wealth among the young population.
“This is very important; it is something that we need to encourage. As I normally say, if we emphasise skills, we are going to solve a lot of problems in this country. If a child learns garment making, for instance, this child will not wait for a government job.
“My neighbour is a garment maker; if you see the car he is driving and the house he owns, you will be surprised that a garment maker can be that rich. It is because he is good at what he does and he has big clients.”.
The Executive Secretary explained that skills acquisition is critical in engaging youths positively, so “we are going to support the National Sewing Championship; if we don’t support this, what else are we going to support?” he questioned.
He assured that “we are going to support the programme 100 per cent. I will sit down with the team, the directors, and some of the people who participated in the 2023 FCT pilot scheme of the sewing competition to see how we can support the national sewing championship,” he stated.
Hayyo also accepted that the administration would host the competition at the zonal level for the north-central geopolitical zone.
Other states to host the geopolitical zonal competitions are Borno, Kano, Oyo, Enugu, and Rivers States.
Over 36,000 youths are expected to participate in the National Sewing Championship at the state level across the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT.
On her part, the Coordinator of the UNESCO Support Sewing Championship and the Executive Director of LMF, Mrs. Rosemary Ojochenemi Osikoye, said the project is designed to upskill the Nigerian youths.
She commended the sectors under the Educational Secretariat that participated in the FCT Sewing Competition in 2023.
“FCT was a model to emulate and a model to beat. Last year, what we did was intense. The Sewing Championship was approved by UNESCO under the participation programme of 2022-2023.
“The usual idea for the participation programme is to do a pilot project that meets the needs of the host country. For Nigeria, only five projects were approved, and this was the only one in the educational sector.
“I think they did it for two things: since 1950, Nigeria has not taken part in the World Skills Competition, and the second idea is to support the learning of skills through general education and strengthen the network between entrepreneurship and the market sector,” she stated.
The National Sewing Championship is expected to commence registration from March to July 2024. Youths from ages 12 to 22 would be eligible to contest.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has expressed readiness to partner with the Ladi Memorial Foundation (LMF) on the UNESCO-supported National Sewing Championship in 2024, the first sewing national competition in Nigeria.
Speaking while receiving a delegation from the Ladi Memorial Foundation (LMF) and partners of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) pilot sewing competition in the FCT in 2023 in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of the Education Secretariat, Dr. Danlami Hayyo, commended the organization’s initiative.
He said skills training is key to solving Nigeria’s unemployment crisis while growing wealth among the young population.
“This is very important; it is something that we need to encourage. As I normally say, if we emphasise skills, we are going to solve a lot of problems in this country. If a child learns garment making, for instance, this child will not wait for a government job.
“My neighbour is a garment maker; if you see the car he is driving and the house he owns, you will be surprised that a garment maker can be that rich. It is because he is good at what he does and he has big clients.”.
The Executive Secretary explained that skills acquisition is critical in engaging youths positively, so “we are going to support the National Sewing Championship; if we don’t support this, what else are we going to support?” he questioned.
He assured that “we are going to support the programme 100 per cent. I will sit down with the team, the directors, and some of the people that participated in the 2023 FCT pilot scheme of the sewing competition to see how we can support the national sewing championship,” he stated.
Hayyo also accepted that the administration would host the competition at the zonal level for the north-central geopolitical zone.
Other states to host the geopolitical zonal competitions are Borno, Kano, Oyo, Enugu, and Rivers States.
Over 36,000 youths are expected to participate in the National Sewing Championship at the state level across the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT.
On her part, the Coordinator of the UNESCO Support Sewing Championship and the Executive Director of LMF, Mrs. Rosemary Ojochenemi Osikoye, said the project is designed to upskill the Nigerian youths.
She commended the sectors under the Educational Secretariat that participated in the FCT Sewing Competition in 2023.
“FCT was a model to emulate and a model to beat. Last year, what we did was intense. The Sewing Championship was approved by UNESCO under the participation programme of 2022-2023.
“The usual idea for the participation programme is to do a pilot project that meets the needs of the host country. For Nigeria, only five projects were approved, and this was the only one in the educational sector.
“I think they did it for two things: since 1950, Nigeria has not taken part in the World Skills Competition, and the second idea is to support the learning of skills through general education and strengthen the network between entrepreneurship and the market sector,” she stated.
The National Sewing Championship is expected to commence registration from March to July 2024. Youths from ages 12 to 22 would be eligible to contest.
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