Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) has begun a three-day capacity building in Gombe State for 100 entrepreneurship teachers under its Mind Shift National School Entrepreneurship programme.
Declaring the training open on Tuesday in Gombe, the Deputy Governor, Dr. Mannesah Jatau, commended SMEDAN for bringing the training to the state, considering the available huge business potentials.
He said the mind shift programme was initiated by SMEDAN and aimed at providing skills for teachers so as to make education functional and self-employment driven.
Jatau said he had no doubt that the training would impact the lives of the beneficiaries, calling on them to consider themselves lucky to participate and do what was expected of them.
“The labour market is filled with unknown number of unemployed graduates who would continue to wait for the train that would never ever come.
“China has become a leading economy of the world today because of its vibrant Small Scale and Medium Enterprises.
“The same cannot be said in our country despite the abundance of human and natural resources God blessed us with.
“Scholars in developmental studies said once you have a land, water and people nothing can stop you from development and all these are attributes that Nigeria has,” he said.
The deputy governor said the state had been ranked number one by a survey on the ease of doing business in Nigeria because of its time consciousness in attending to issues.
“Gombe state had emerged as the best among the states that provided attractive environments that promote business growth in Nigeria,’’ he said.
The Commissioner for Education, Mr. Batari Dauda, appreciated SMEDAN for organising the programme in Gombe state.
He said the programme would go a long way in addressing the problem of unemployment being grappled with throughout the country.
In his address, SMEDAN Director General, Mr. Dikko Radda, noted that over 300 primary and secondary schools in 15 states had been engaged and benefited from the programme since 2018.
Represented by Mahmoud Doguwa, Zonal Coordinator, SMEDAN, Radda said the programme would take place in 12 states involving 100 teachers and education officers in every state.
He said each state was expected to take ownership of the programme and step it down to all the primary and secondary schools within the state.
