From Sylvia Udegbunam, Enugu

The Enugu State Government, in partnership with ANAMMCO, a foremost indigenous vehicle manufacturing company, with its plant in Enugu has commenced the training of youths from Enugu North and Enugu East Council Areas on Automotive industry skills.

The training which began on Monday with orientation is expected to expose the trainees to in-plant skills training in panel beating, fibre glass technology, electrical electronics engineering practice, motor vehicle spraying and painting, upholstery, welding and fabrication in the next seven weeks.

Welcoming the participants, the Executive Director, Corporate Services ANAMMCO, Mr Uche Okeke, said the training was conceived by the company and the Enugu State Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The in-plant training programme is one of the numerous gains of Enugu State citizens and residents from Governor Peter Mbah’s commitment to job creation and human capital development through State patronage of local manufacturers that have been neglected in the past despite their huge economic potentials.

It will be recalled that Governor Mbah some weeks back awarded ANAMMCO the contract to refurbish 49 units city transport buses popularly known as Coal City Shuttle.

This project, aside from huge employment opportunities, has provided a unique opportunity for ongoing technical training.

This is one of the unique approaches that highlight the private sector approach to the delivery of laudable projects with excellent cost effectiveness.

According to him, the training is meant to transfer knowledge that will improve the youths’ needed skills in the automotive industry. This will make them self-employed or gainfully employable.

This in-plant training programme is the first of many to follow in the strategic partnership agreement between Governor Mbah led Enugu State and ANAMMCO Ltd.

“The idea is that at the end, Enugu state will have the highest population of youths with viable skills in various industrial sectors that will be sought after globally for employment. They will be financially independent and potential employers of labour,” Okeke said.

He, however, urged them to take the training seriously, assuring them that it is going to be practical training, which will be very easy to learn.

The Chief Operations Officer of ANAMMCO, Mr. Ben Ejindu, advised the beneficiaries to start from a little before making it big, regretting that most youths want to make it big and fast.

He said that the country was poor because we do not produce but depended on other countries for goods and services, thereby contributing nothing to the economy.

Speaking on the history of ANAMMCO, Ejindu, said the company was conceived by the Federal Government of Nigeria under the Second National Development Plan (1970-1975).

“It was incorporated on Jan. 17, 1977, and its factory inaugurated on July 8, 1980 by the first executive President of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari while commercial production of trucks began in January 1981.”

“We offer training into motor vehicle mechatronics, industrial electrical electronics, welding and fabrication, information and communication technology, machining and fitting practices, etc.”

Speaking on the training, the Training Manager, ANAMMCO Training Institute, Godwin Ezeatu, explained that the industrial orientation and safety training would last for one week while the in-plant training would last for six weeks making a total duration of seven weeks for the basic training module on the designated skills.

“They will be trained on various production skills like panel beating, fibre glass technology, electrical electronics engineering, upholstery and motor vehicle spraying and painting, welding and fabrication.

Earlier in an interview, the Enugu State Commissioner for Labour and Employment, Mr. Chika Ugwuoke, said training was in complete alignment with  the vision of Governor Mbah to improve human capacity  and to eradicate poverty thereby boosting the Gross Domestic Product of the state.

He disclosed that the transport sector was one the critical sectors in the state that Mbah wants to revive.

“So as the State tries to develop this sector, there is a need for it to have adequate manpower to sustain it in terms of vehicle maintenance, CNG conversion and a lot of other things in automobiles.

“We are looking at the economy that in the future there will be assembling and manufacturing cars in Enugu State. So ANAMMCO is a very significant partner that the state government wants to use to build all the capacity.

“That is why we want to train individuals that would be able to drive the functionality and sustainability of the sector,” Ugwuoke said.