Kiara De-Luke Academy ( KDA ), a technical and vocational education training (TVET) Institute, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for training in fashion design and garment making with Artisans’ group identified as ‘Self-Employed Artisans Development Association of Nigeria (SEADAN) of Aba, Abia State.
This development is said to be in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Nigeria First Policy that was partly designed to prioritize the adoption, use and application of locally manufactured and available goods and services in all government operations.
Kiara De-Luke Academy is a leading organization engaged in various technical vocational training, including carpentry, electrical installation and maintenance, building construction, fashion design, garment making, welding and fabrication, plumbing and pipe fitting.
During the MOU signing at Aba on Friday, the Chief Executive Officer of KDA, Mr Endi Ezengwa described the MOU as a way of tapping into the potential human resources and entrepreneurship skills in Aba to train and empower unemployed youths across Nigeria.
According to Ezengwa, achieving this president’s policy target should involve touching the grassroots.
“One of the things Kiara De-Luke Academy wants to do is to support the Artisans to improve their quality and service delivery. This will position Nigeria as a big player in the global fashion business with quality products good enough to compete with and beat other products from anywhere in the world.
“Since Aba has competent Artisans in this skills sector, there is a need to do a formal MOU with the SEADAN to enhance their operations. We will also talk to those who desire self-employment about the entrepreneurship skills required to stand on their own and grow their businesses.
Ezengwa added, that Kiara De-Luke Academy’s target included the improvement of the business fortunes of the Aba fashion designers and tailors through this partnership and better position them, not just in terms of financial growth but renewed mindset and business acumen.
Ezengwa disclosed that his academy already offered the Artisans the use of its facilities, such that “instead of their staying under the stairs, in one room without power supply, they can all come to our facility and use it as a common facility for their production.”
Lauding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ‘Nigeria First Policy,’ that favours adoption, application and use of locally made products in the country , Ezengwa said that buying Made In Nigeria products will improve the economy, encourage productivity, create employment for the Nigerian youths, as well as cultivate the culture of adding value to domestic products.
The President of SEADAN ( Self-Employed Artisans Development Association of Nigeria) Mr James Ndukwe Nwafor, while expressing delight about the signed MOU, expressed optimism that it will create fashion designers that can own their products with pride, leverage quality, not just quantity and more on the business angle with top-notch finishing techniques.
He predicted that the signed MOU will take Aba Fashion Designers to a greater height, and place Aba in its rightful place in the industry, and also compete favourably with other Countries.
“I am also satisfied that Kiara De-Luke Academy proposal is bringing transformation to the industry and end products, and from all indications, the youths are the major beneficiaries of this partnership.
In his remark, the SEADAN Secretary Mr Eze Linus Okezie, ” said the move will be a paradigm shift in many ways hence. Aba, being the hub of fashion designers, will benefit from this partnership, which will help formalize businesses for the people that are going to be trained”.
” If we have up to 100 persons properly trained, with their businesses formalized, there will be a paradigm shift, because they will have labels with patents, and things will greatly improve for the majority of them and the system will become positively competitive, not domestically, but with other manufacturers from foreign countries like China”, he concluded.
