The Council for the Regulation for Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) launched the National Clean Energy Skills Certification for young professionals in the country in Abuja on Tuesday.
The launching was done in collaboration with the EU and the German government, who had been the core financiers of the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP) since 2017.
The technical assistance programme was implemented by the German International Development Corporation, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in collaboration with the Ministry of Power.
The partnership is aimed at supporting young professionals to obtain requisite skills to increase access to employment in the sector.
Prof. Joseph Odigure, COREN Registrar, said its mandate was to create an enabling environment for Nigerian youths to thrive in the engineering industry by advocating strict compliance by all relevant parties to best practices.
“The renewable energy and energy efficiency sector is growing rapidly and COREN remains committed to supporting the certification scheme to evolve to a world-class standard,’’ he assured.
Also, the Head of Sector, Green and Digital Economy at the EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms Inga Stefanowicz, expressed the EU’s support to enhancing skills development in the sector.
“Providing skills development opportunities to young Nigerian professionals is critical for their employability or entrepreneurship potential, ultimately contributing to the growth and diversification of the economy.
“The EU is committed to supporting the government of Nigeria in developing the potential in the clean energy sector, and we are delighted to have supported the launch of the National Clean Energy Skills Certification Scheme’’, she said.
Speaking also, the Country Director of GIZ Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms Ina Hommers, noted that the NESP-COREN collaboration is good.
“The collaboration between NESP and COREN is a welcome development in the industry with the strategic objective of enhancing the skills of current and aspiring young Nigerian professional in the clean energy sector.
“NESP would continue with the provision of support to COREN towards the substance of the certification scheme,’’ she assured.
“The National Clean Energy Skills Certification includes the adoption of Computer-Based Testing to support the traditional face-to-face paper assessments and the deployment of IT resources at four Zonal centres across Nigeria.
“Currently, there are 20 active training partner institutes accredited to deliver training on the different competency certification courses and further plans to expand the training partnership network to achieve a wider coverage in Nigeria are in progress,’’ she added.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NESP was introduced in 2017 and has so far achieved the development competency standard and curriculum for renewable energy and energy efficiency courses.
It has implemented Training of Trainers, coaching and mentorship for a network of 20 training partners to enhance training delivery.
Since 2017 NESP has supported training of more than 1,000 young professionals in clean energy courses and certified 35 per cent of the trainees.
It has granted scholarships for tuition to 50 young female graduates and provided internship support to gain practical experience among others.
COREN launches clean energy skills for young Nigerian professionals
