Many young people would love to be in the shoes of the 37 technicians who graduated from the Technical Training Centre (TTC) of the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) last Thursday.
They were selected among thousands to undergo a two-year training in bottle equipment operations and maintenance that also involves theoretical and practical knowledge of automation and mechanical engineering, which prepares them for the City and Guilds of London examination.
Now that they have completed the training, which Pastor Tope Dada, Head of the centre, said cost the NBC N4.8 million per student (covering feeding, accommodation, allowances, and training materials), they have all been employed by the company.
In light of the high rate of graduate unemployment, Mr Olawumi Gasper, Executive Secretary, Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB), counselled the graduands not to jettison the great opportunity they have to start a lucrative career at NBC in search of university degrees.
“You are on the route to a very sound career. Most of you have National Diplomas (ND) or more. But from here you have gained sound training that would make you to be sought after. Most of you after this will still want to get university education. I don’t begrudge you for that. But never leave a sound career for a certificate. You can get a degree along the way,” he said.
With the training they have received, Gasper, an engineer and former Rector, Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) said the graduates have been exposed to the secret of technology and should build on it to improve the manufacturing industry in Nigeria.
“You are so lucky to be exposed to the secret of technology. There is nothing regarding machine and instrumentation that you do not know. We expect you to assist us in improving the manufacturing industry,” he said.
In his charge to the new technicians, the Managing Director of NBC, Mr Ben Langat, said despite having received world class training, they would only be successful if they have the relevant soft skills.
“This centre has equipped you with all the technical skills that you need to succeed in your career. But that is not everything. The different between those who succeed or not will be defined by you attitudes, worth ethics, and discipline in completing tasks before you,” he said.
He warned them to flee from alcoholism and laziness, which he described as the biggest career killers.
Through the TTC, Langat said the NBC has contributed to expanding the number of youths with technical skills sought after by industry.
Counting the centre’s success, Langat said that over 560 students have graduated from the centre flagship programme with over 90 percent gainfully employed by the company.
“We have recorded scores of success stories of our graduates who have excelled and risen to key management positions within and outside the NBC system through sheer brilliance and hard work,” he said.
Commissioner for Transportation, Kayode Opeifa, praised NBC for investing in the lives of the young ones and called for more collaboration between the government and NBC and other companies, saying that it would help curb unemployment.
He urged the grandaunds not to see challenges in life anymore but opportunities to challenge the status quo.
As is the centre’s culture, Mr Tope Dada said the new technicians, who are the Set 25 and Set 26, developed a new pallet testing machine (used to measure the strength of pallets on which bottles are loaded) as their project for the company. He said this would save NBC about N25 million monthly.
One of the new line technicians, Amaka Adigbonu, who has been posted to NBC’s Port Harcourt plant, told The Nation that she learnt a lot during the programme.
“We were opportune to go to other parts of the country – Abuja, Jos, and Port Harcourt; and we were able to balance what we learnt in school with what we learnt at the centre. It was wonderful. They would not train you on your field alone, they would train you in other things as well, they train you on machine, how you operate them, how you maintain them so you know how to deliver,” she said.
Students who distinguished themselves during the training were rewarded with gifts.
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