Project T-MAX: We’re excited changing lives — Buhari’s aide

The Federal Government says it is excited changing young people’s lives through its Project T-MAX (TVET Maximisation) initiative aimed at training Nigerians in various vocational skills.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the pilot phase of the project is running in seven states of Lagos, Ogun, Edo, Enugu, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Gombe, and it is part of the Federal Government’s commitment to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030.

Mr Fela Bank-Olemoh, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to President Muhammadu Buhari on Education Interventions, disclosed this during the routine tour of TVET approved vocational centres in Lagos on Thursday.

“It excites me to see that we are changing lives. The beauty of governance is about changing lives. We have over half a million that registered for T-MAX, and we picked 15,000 for the pilot scheme.

“I am very happy. I have gone through all the seven states across the federation (for the pilot scheme) and everywhere we go, we are excited.

“The most exciting thing as a government is the fact the people’s lives are getting better. People that have no skill before are now skilled,” Bank-Olemoh said.

On expansion, Bank-Olemoh said that the government would expand the scheme to other states and capture more people.

“This is a pilot stage, we are going to expand it but let us focus on completing this over the next one month.

“We would have trained about 15,000 Nigerians, giving them skills and make them better off across seven states of the federation.

“The good thing is seeing that people’s lives are better and that is very encouraging,” he added.

Bank-Olemoh also expressed delight that the beneficiaries did not know anyone before getting admitted into the programme.

“You are special that you are selected without knowing anybody. What you do with the skills matter. Make it a success and make it work, make the best of this opportunity.

“You are a better person now, we have given you skills, do something with it. Make your story difference. I am excited and happy. All we see here will make us to do more. Please, make us proud,” he advised.

In her remarks, the Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, who expressed excitement about the free training, said there were many jobs that people did not have skills for.

Adefisayo, who expressed delight in the performance and outputs of beneficiaries, said that the government was preparing the young Nigerians for the future.

“This is magnificent, I am very happy about what I have seen.

“In a very short period, the students have learnt a number of skills that will help them set up business and work collaboratively with other people to understand the business in its entirety.

“What we are talking about is how to scale this. What the Federal Government has done is to support us in Lagos State and we are happy about that.

“At the moment, we are adding technical as a track in secondary school which we call comprehensive schools. We do have our technical colleges and schools for vocations for adults,” Adefisayo said.

Beneficiaries of the programme at various locations took turns to commend the Federal Government for the opportunity, describing their experience as interesting and exciting.

One of the beneficiaries, Mr Wahab Owolabi, who is into Cosmetology, Beauty and Care, said that the skills acquired had transformed his life.

Another, Ms Oliver Nwosu, who is into fashion designing said that she was glad to be trained without paying a dime.

“As a graduate, I will like the government to do more. We have more people out there that this will be beneficial to. When we have it ,we will be able to feed ourselves,” Nwosu said.

Also, Mr Russell Ogudo, who is into Electrical Department (Solar) commended the Federal Government for the opportunity of the training.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the T-MAX team visited various T-VET Centres in the state where young Nigerians were being trained in fashion design entrepreneurship, Cosmetology, Beauty Care Make Ups, Electrical, ICT and Digital Skills among others.