Federal Government has called on the Management of Technical Colleges in the country to prioritise environmental and social safeguarding to enhance the effective implementation of the World Bank-assisted innovation and skills acquisition project in Nigeria.This was disclosed in a statement made available to newsmen by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Ben Goong.

The statement, which was made available on Wednesday, noted that the minister of education, Adamu Adamu tasked the technical colleges during a workshop on environmental and social safeguard screening and other preliminary activities for Technical Colleges Implementing Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills Project held in Abuja early August.

Adamu noted that environmental and social management was critical for effectiveness and sustainability of the project in line with the Nigerian environmental policies and the World Bank’s environmental and social policy.

He said, “As important as developmental and expansionist projects are for human development, what is of equal importance for consideration is ensuring environmental and human protection in the process of executing projects.”In a bid to ensure effectiveness and sustainability, the project has prioritised environmental and social management in line with the Nigerian environmental policies and the World Bank’s environmental and social policy.

“The environmental and social screening of sub-project marks the beginning of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment or Environmental and Social Management Plan processes.

“In view of this, all Environmental and Social Officers, Project Managers of the participating Technical Colleges need to be trained on how to carry out environmental and social screening of sub-projects in the colleges, using screening checklist provided in the Evaluating Solution in Management Facilities. The essence of the IDEAS Project is to address the current deficiencies in the Education system that has made a large number of school leavers unemployed; It urges Nigerian youths to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the project.”

“An estimated 40 Technical Colleges in the country, alongside the private sector would benefit from the project, which also has a technical teacher training component.