The Sir Ahmadu Bello Foundation has trained 2,651 young men and women under its Entrepreneurship and Vocational Training Programme across the 19 Northern States and FCT Abuja.
The Managing Director of the foundation, Dr Shettima Ali, said in Kaduna on Friday that a minimum of 100 persons were trained in each of the states and FCT in various vocations.
“We have a standing deposit with Jaiz Bank as cash guaranty backing by the foundation for commercial loans the bank is expected to make to beneficiaries of the training,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the foundation kicked off operations on July 10, 2010.
“In realisation of the significance of education to development, the foundation re-visited the 2008 Northern Education Submit through a review of the summit in 2011.
“The review appraised the achievements and challenges of the implementation of the 2008 summit and recommends the setting up of a monitoring and evaluation group.
“The group comprises of well grounded education practitioners who have been actively involved in teaching and education management to ensure the implementation of the strategies.
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“These recommendations were submitted to the NSGF,” he said.
He also disclosed that 580 Degree and HND Local Scholarships had been awarded and 243 had graduated so far.
“An evaluation of the programme undertaken in 2016 indicates that 46 per cent of those who completed their programmes graduated with first or second class upper divisions or upper credit in HND,” he said.
According to him, each recipient got N100,000 as scholarship annually, over the duration of his/her degree or higher National Diploma programme.
He also said that in the free medical scheme, the foundation had major outreach at Rabah, Sokoto State.
The managing director said that more than 2,000 beneficiaries were screened and treated for various ailments and 100 people underwent various forms of surgery.
He also said that 160 medical doctors, 49 other healthcare personnel and student nurses were trained on trauma and blast skill management.
Ali noted that the training was held in all the three zones of the North with resource persons drawn from local and foreign health institutions.
“The importance of this programme is predicated on the growing incidence of trauma and death due to poor handling of blast victims, terrorist attacks, accidents and violent crises,” he said. (NAN)
