NCMDB In Partnership With Ascendant Trains 50 Youths On Solar Energy Skills
The Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board, NCMDB, in partnership with a solar energy company, Ascendant Skill Collective Limited, has trained and certified 50 youths across Anambra State on Solar Energy skills, providing participants with basic tools and grants to start up.
In his remarks during the event, held at Amawbia Community Hall, Awka South Council Area, the Project Manager, Mr. Michael Omolaja, explained that the NCMDB was established as a federal agency empowered to ensure that skills, especially those relating to the oil and gas industry, are localized, and that the solar energy installation and services training was designed to empower participants with skills to be self-reliant, as they were given start-up packs and grants to take off, noting that the agency also undertakes training on other skills aimed at reducing the level of unemployment.
Speaking also, the facilitator of the programme, Engineer Donaldson Ozurumba, said the unreliability of the national grid is making Nigerians seek energy alternatives such as solar, noting that the necessary technical skills given to the participants will enable them to become installers or dealers in solar energy and become self-employed and self-reliant.
Engineer Ozurumba emphasized that the training is not just about skills empowerment but also focuses on a professional approach to being a good solar installer or dealer, especially on the quality of materials to be used, client relationship, specifications, and more, as he also called on the government and financial institutions to help subsidize solar energy for Nigerians who cannot afford it.
Some participants, including Mr. Charles Ifedilichukwu and Mrs. Calista Onu, expressed their gratitude for participating in the solar skills acquisition, especially as the training was free-of-charge, together with the starter packs given and expected grants, even as they requested further training for proper knowledge assimilation.
Practical training, questions and answers, and certificate presentations were the highlights of the solar panel skills training.
