Ziniare, 16^th December 2016

51 youths drawn from 11 Member States have completed their skill acquisition training at the Professional Training Reference Centre in Ziniare, Burkina Faso.

The trainees who are between the ages of 18 to 35, acquired specialized knowhow in auto mechanism as well as air-conditioning and refrigeration under the auspices of the ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Centre (EYSDC).

The young ECOWAS citizens underwent a one-month training guided by qualified tutors as part of the ECOWAS youth policy which seeks to empower the teaming young population of the region and make them productive, employable and self employed citizens.

Speaking during the closing ceremony of the programme in Ziniare, the Director, EYSDC Dr. Francis Njoaguani expressed delight at the completion of the session which he said is critical in the chain of activities designed by the EYSDC to aid productivity, and development in furtherance of the integration goals of ECOWAS.

He charged the recipients to constantly seek attainment of the next level of their careers with the knowledge and competence acquired during the training. The region, he said would in no time benefit from the network created by those who have been trained under the aegis of the EYSDC just as bringing them together helps in fostering integration.

The director told the training recipients that success is only attained when knowledge and skills are put to use. Urging them to become change agents as they joyfully put themselves in the service of their various communities, Dr. Njoaguani told the participants to enjoy the endeavours of the path taken stressing: “If you do not enjoy what you are doing, you may never be good at it”

Delivering his address, the minister of youth, vocational training and integration Burkina Faso represented by Mr. Stanislas Goungouga expressed satisfaction at the progress of the various training sessions in Ziniare noting that it also ‘marks the consolidation of the opening of the CFPR-Z (training Centre) to the countries of the region’

The Centre, he stressed, has become ‘an instrument of regional integration. Through the qualification of human resources, it forms the basis of a harmonious social development, that is sustainable and self-sustaining’

The Director-General of the Professional training Reference Centre Mr. Blaisse Dabone thanked ECOWAS for collaborating with his Centre in aid of building the capacity of youth in Burkina Faso and West Africa.

Some of the trainees received awards for outstanding performance including miss Oretha Zor (air-conditioning and refrigeration) from Liberia who declared her satisfaction with the quality of training stressing that should would ‘now go back home and improve on my work. I know the old difficult things better now and I can even teach it to any body at the workshop’

Other trainees who expressed belief in a brighter future after the training included Miss Jennifer Tanko (auto-mechanic) and Abraham Udofia (Refrigeration), Nigeria, Sainey Dibba (Refrigeration) Gambia, and Foundohou Joseas (Air-conditioning) Benin Republic.

The training in Ziniare is part of the dual annual youth capacity building programme of the EYSDC for selected youth from Member States. The other activity also scheduled for December 2016 in Porto Novo, republic of Benin is on agriculture and food Processing

There are plans to expand the scope of the trainings to include other critical, jobs promotion sectors such as Information and communication Technology.

No fewer than 1018 citizens have ben trained in various vocations by the EYSDC since inception in 2007.