The manager, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Rumuokwuta Area Office, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Mr. Cabral M. Angereke, has asserted that the Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) was conceived to enhance the employability of the graduates of Nigerian tertiary institutions.
Angereke, who was represented by the head of Training Unit, Mrs. Gloria H. Ekwunike, gave this explanation in his address to mark the opening of the 2022 second semester SIWES Orientation Exercise for students of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Port Harcourt Study Centre, on Friday, August 26, 2022, at the auditorium of the Port Harcourt Study Centre.
He said that “before the establishment of the scheme, there was a growing concern amongst industrialists that graduates of our tertiary institutions of higher learning lacked adequate employable skills in industries. Employers were of the opinion that the theoretical education in higher institutions was not responsive to the needs of the employers of labour.”
“This informed the ITF initiating, designing and introducing the scheme to equip students with the necessary skills of handling employers’ equipment and machineries as well as gaining the needed practical skills in the course of their learning,” he added.
Angereke emphasised that SIWES is a skills training programme designed to expose and prepare students for the industrial work situation they are likely to meet after graduation.
He urged the students to listen to the presentations of all resource persons and ask constructive questions at any point they need clarifications so as to get themselves equipped properly for the practical exercise in order to minimise mistakes during their industrial attachments.
The orientation exercise featured presentations by the area manager, the head of training and the head of accounts.
There was also a session for questions and answers which turned out to be quite interactive.
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