Deploys Community Social Responsibility Efforts Towards Building Technical Capacity in Housing Construction Industry
The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) has empowered 45 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with technical skills in key aspects of housing construction work as part of its corporate social responsibility programme. Currently, residents of the IDP Camp in New Kuchingoro, Games Village, Abuja these graduates are the first set of beneficiaries of a two-months training programme in masonry, tiling, plumbing as well as electrical installation skills facilitated by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) using qualified building professionals and experts.
The training course began November last year and was designed to empower lives of the displaced persons as well as signal NMRC’s contribution to ongoing efforts to redress the skills gap in the building industry in Nigeria, often cited as one of the key constraints to the growth of a robust housing market growth.
Speaking at the closing ceremony to mark the graduation of the IDPs, NMRC’s Managing Director/Chief Executive, Professor Charles Inyangete noted that the training program is part of NMRC’s strategic community outreach program designed to impact lives and contribute to solving problems in the housing construction sector.
In his words: “Today is a day of delight for me. NMRC is proud to have initiated this program and happy to note that the first batch of beneficiaries have graduated. We believe that they are now empowered with the right skill sets to work as experts and earn a decent living for themselves and their families. We also know that by this, we are helping to reduce the skill deficit in the housing sector. It is our plan to sustain this effort as our contribution to improving technical skills in the construction industry.”
Prof. Inyangete thanked the management of the ITF for ensuring timely completion of the training program. He also encouraged the beneficiaries to take pride in themselves and the skills they have acquired to take their lives to the next phase.
In her remarks at the event, the representative of the Director General/CEO, Industrial Training Fund, Mrs. Evelyn Irabor, Director/Head of Training, ITF commended NMRC for the initiative to empower IDPs. She said that the training has given the beneficiaries the capacity to constructively participate in the rebuilding of their communities which have been destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgency.
In her welcoming remarks Dr. Chii Akporji, NMRC’s Executive Director in charge of Policy, Strategy and Business Development and initiator of the programme expressed a sense of fulfilment in that NMRC’s two-pronged strategy – to economically empower displaced persons and to contribute to reducing the housing industry skill deficit – is now a reality. Urging the graduates to aggressively market their newly acquired skills, she re-stated NMRC’s commitment to progressing the training and impacting many more lives.
In his response on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mr. Enoch Yohanna, the IDP Camp Secretary expressed gratitude to NMRC for coming to their aid at their most vulnerable time of need. NMRC had earlier enabled access to safe clean water for camp residents through he donation of a borehole in 2016. Now, NMRC has partnered with the ITF, the federal government recognised agency for credible vocational training to empower them with building construction skills which they know they will deploy to their own advantage, improve their lives and those of their families, and become more responsible Nigerian citizens.
Camp Chairman, Mr Philemon Emmanuel, also expressed residents’ deepest appreciation to both NMRC and to ITF for their partnership to positively make a difference in their lives, and looked forward to the continuity of the training programme.
NMRC also provided the graduates with relevant start-up tool kits in their respective fields of training to enable them to ply their new skills. The event also included a tour of the structures the graduates had built leveraging their newly acquired skills, including providing ceiling tiles for classrooms on the premises and the construction of two restrooms for camp residents.
It is hoped that through such structured partnerships between the public and private sectors, the myriad of challenges facing the supply side of the housing value chain will begin to be mitigated, and contribute in no mean measure to the growth of the sector and access to home ownership in Nigeria.
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About the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC)
NMRC is a is a private sector driven mortgage liquidity facility with the primary purpose of developing the primary and secondary mortgage markets by raising long-term funds from the capital market, and thereby promoting home ownership in Nigeria.
Our vision is to become the dominant housing partner in Nigeria, with a mission to break down barriers to home ownership by providing liquidity, affordability, accessibility and stability to the housing market in Nigeria.
NMRC was incorporated on 24th June 2013 and obtained its final operating license as a non-deposit taking financial institution from the Central Bank of Nigeria on 18th February 2015.
About the Industrial Training Fund (ITF)
Established under Decree 47 of 1971 as Amended in the 2011 ITF ACT, the Industrial Training Fund was set up to stimulate human performance, improve productivity, and induce value-added production in industry and commerce. It is a grade ‘A’ Parastatal operating under the aegis of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. It has been operating for 46 years as a specialist agency that promotes and encourages the acquisition of industrial and commercial skills required for national economic development.
In the four decades of its existence, the ITF has not only raised training consciousness in the economy, but has also helped in generating a corps of skilled indigenous manpower which has been manning and managing various sectors of the national economy.
