Author: Dr. Benjamin Onoriode Irikefe
Handbook of Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programmes is one of the first holistic book ever published on Skill Acquisition and Empowerment worldwide.
Most works on book stands across the globe centre on Skill Acquisition, are vocation based. This 824 page book is structured into five Parts that lucidly exposes the “quadrant of skill acquisition” and empowerment concepts.
Part one covers Skill Acquisition and its associated foundation concepts. It comprises of two chapters that provide a practical background to the quadrant.
Part two covers entrepreneurship and soft skills for business success. This part has two chapters that respectively covered entrepreneurship development and soft & life skills for personal and business success from author’s field experience angle.
Part three covers critical considerations which are associated with successful training execution. These include training actualization framework, starter packs and associated concepts, post training mentor-ship and management of unusual training situations, without which skill acquisition and empowerment programmes cannot yield positive results.
Part four tackles the reintegration and empowerment of sub-state groups such as ex-militants, Civilian (JTF) Joint Task Force Members and Repentant Nigerian Ex-Boko Haram Operatives.
Part five which is the concluding part of the book talked about the consideration of critical success entities, proposed interventions from Skill Acquisition to Post Training Empowerment through institutional collaborations.
The book is a product of over twenty-five years of the author’s involvement in training of Ex-Militant and Non-Militant Youths and persons; amnesty programme activities; and general skill acquisition training and mentoring programmes. Practical demonstration of concepts which gives a vivid account of the author’s experiences and activities are the unique features of this book. The recommendations therein are capable of solving numerous societal problems and stands as reference material for academic pursuits.
The book elucidates the following key elements of Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programmes amongst others: A holistic Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programme should comprise of four components namely: Vocation Specific Training, Soft and Life Skills Training; Entrepreneurship Development Training; and Post-Training Empowerment. This is what the author has enunciated as the “Quadrant of Skill Acquisition”.
Starter Packs for beneficiaries of skill acquisition training programmes should be provided and made available to trainees before they exit their training and specific training in the usage and
application of the Starter Packs should be taught to them as well.
Vocational and technical education should be taught alongside and within conventional academic curriculum so that graduates can be equipped with vocation specific trades with which they can eke out a living after graduation.
Graduates En-skillment Programmes should be undertaken to help graduates of tertiary institutions unlock their creative and vocational potentials so that they can be involved in vocation specific trades or MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) that can help them eke out a living.
Operationalisation and reporting templates are needed for effective and successful training programmes (over 100 templates are provided in this book).
Continuous provisions are needed to re-integrate and empower Ex-Militants, Civilian JTF (Joint Task Force) Members and De-radicalised Nigerian repentant Ex-Boko Haram Operatives to enable
them lead self-reliant, productive and wholesome livelihoods.
Critical success entities must consolidate their interventions from skill acquisition up to post -training empowerment through institutional collaborations to lift MSMEs and artisan training outfits.
Trainers’ qualities of being proactive, accommodating and passionate when managing Trainees and also avoid monetization of training programmes should be their target.
Provision of skill acquisition training is one of the time-honoured programmes that can be effective in combating global insecurity, poverty and to prevent destabilization of the international system.
The above features are vividly and practically explained to equip trainees, trainers, mentors, those being mentored and other stakeholders who wish to venture into skill acquisition training and empowerment programmes.
It is however a good resource and tool for the nation and the world at large, especially in these critical economic period if the prescriptions are adopted by the relevant authorities.
End
About The Author
Dr. Benjamin Onoriode Irikefe was the Statement Chairman at the First Presidential Retreat on National Security in 2001 and Member, Presidential Panel on National Security in the Presidency from October
2001 to December 2002. He also worked under the defunct General Godwin Abbe-led Presidential Committee on Amnesty in 2010.
Dr. Irikefe is the Managing Consultant of Scotchville Industrial Consortium Limited, one of the front line firms that are involved in and commissioned by the Federal Government of Nigeria to provide Skill
Acquisition Training to both Ex-Militants and Non-Militant Youths from the Niger Delta Region.
He has attended numerous academic and professional programmes at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan; Federal University of Technology, Owerri; Business School Netherlands, Buren and the African Regional
Centre for Engineering Design and Manufacturing, Ibadan.
In 1997, Dr. Irikefe was appointed the Regional Coordinator for Niger Delta by the African Environmental Action Network, a Non-Governmental Organization that focuses on the abatement of Youth restiveness,
illegal arms trafficking and environmental degradation.
Dr. Irikefe coordinated the first ever interactive meeting between Chief of Army Staff, General Alexander Ogomudia and Niger Delta Youths in 2001 at Effurun, Delta State. He is a pioneer Consultant to the
Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA) and Niger Delta Amnesty Programme (NDAP). He has done considerable research works on community safety, illegal arms trafficking, oil pipeline vandalization, illegal bunkering, corporate social responsibility, thuggery, political violence, youth restiveness, militancy, armed banditry, oil and gas assets protection, herdsmen & farmers conflicts, youth empowerment, entrepreneurial mentor-ship & vocational guidance, community economic
empowerment and communal crisis management amongst others.
Scotchville Industrial Consortium Limited led by Dr. Irikefe was conferred in 2011 with the title of “MOST EFFECTIVE CAPACITY BUILDING INSTITUTION OF THE YEAR” and he was personally conferred with the
honour as “POSTIVE YOUTH TRANSFORMER OF THE YEAR” at the Delta Role Model Awards (Dreams 2011).
He is a recognized authority on DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration) of Ex-combatants/Agitators and Skills Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programmes, locally and internationally.
