The leadership of the Abuja GSM Village has called for a strategic partnership with the Federal Government to establish a technology training centre for youths.
The Vice Chairman of the village, Mr Abdulfatah Aliyu, made the appeal during an interview with reporters on Thursday in Abuja.
Aliyu said the proposed facility would formalise the apprenticeship system and equip young Nigerians with lucrative digital repair skills.
He added: “We would love it if the government can come in and build a kind of training centre for us within the hub.
“We want a place where we can have youths that are ready to learn technical skills and have something doing to earn a living.
“As a union, when you write to the executives that you are willing to learn, we are ready to assist you.
“We will attach you to members that have the skills for a little fee, provided you provide a reliable guarantor to ensure security.”
Aliyu, who noted that many technicians in the market were currently training apprentices individually, said government intervention would drastically scale up the impact.
“I know how many apprentices have served under me; I have settled them and they are now doing well in various states.
“I have some of them in Akwa Ibom, Lagos, and parts of the north; they all came here and I trained them on my own.
“But if government can look into the infrastructure of the place and give us a training hall, we can bring in a lot of youths.
“We can train them properly so they will become something in the future and contribute meaningfully to the economy.”
The vice chairman also disclosed that the association had begun sanitising the hub to rid it of touts masquerading as apprentices.
“We go around to sanitise the place; to chase away those we call ‘Oja boys’ because they do not learn any actual skills.
“They just hijack customers, collect their phones and end up messing up the devices because they do not understand the technical work.
“We are making sure that we chase away those kinds of people to protect customers and maintain the integrity of the environment,” he said.
The GSM Village currently operates a traditional apprenticeship model where individuals spend months learning digital device maintenance.
