With unemployment rate in the country becoming very worrisome, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Calabar, the Cross River state capital, has launched skills acquisition training for those it described as Young Single Adult (YSA).
The event, which took place in Calabar at the weekend had in attendance members of the three stakes of Calabar North, Calabar and Calabar South District presidencies of the church as well as representatives of the Cross River government, traditional institution and hundreds of young people.
Speaking, the Calabar South Stake President, Ephraim Ebong, said the skills acquisition training covers such requisite areas as electrical installation and wiring; air conditioning and refrigeration repairs, welding and fabrication, plumbing and tilling as well as carpentry and joinery.
Other areas, according to President Ebong include auto-mechanics, tailoring, catering, making of soap, detergent, creams, bleach, beads, shoes, bags, mats, woolen hats, cardigans, computer technology hard and software installation as well as maintenance and repairs.
“We are using this to help rebuild our society and prepare our youths to take responsibility for their lives especially as unemployment continues to bite the Nigerian society. We also believe that when the youths are engaging themselves in meaningful ventures, restiveness and vices would reduce considerably.
“To make the vision realisable, we have created what we call a Gathering Place where we bring them together to interact, build relationships, learn and acquire skills, develop leadership skills to help them become good leaders tomorrow in order for us to have a better society. This training is not limited to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” he said.
The Calabar North Stake President, Ekong Akwaowo, and Calabar Nigeria stake President, Alex Nkoro, corroborated President Ebong’s postulation but added that the programme was also aimed at molding character for the young adult to have a strong future.
Mr Castro Ezama, Senior Adviser to Governor Ben Ayade on Quality Education, who also spoke, commended the Church for the gesture, but challenged other churches and organisations to borrow a leaf from what the Latter Day Saints Church was doing to add meaning to the life of the young ones and by so doing making the society safer.
