The Lagos State Government has kicked off the Lagos Creative Vaults with 50 participants as a pilot scheme.
The Lagos Creative Arts Vault is an initiative of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Tourism Arts and Culture, Idris Aregbe, to train about 3,000 youths to become future creatives for excellence which Lagos is known for.
At a Friday news conference to launch the initiative at the Lekki Creative Arts and Crafts Market, Idris hinted that the youth would be trained in different vocational skills in 18 months.
The special adviser, who reiterated the commitment of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration to empower the youth and arrest restiveness among street urchins, appealed to participants to utilise the opportunity to become employers of labour, by tapping from the wealth of knowledge of local and international trainers at their disposition.
Idris said, “Today is about passion. Today is about unity. Today is about love. Today is about training. Today is about advancing the essence of life.
“When we talk about tourism, when we talk about arts, when we talk about culture, if we are not advancing the essence of the next generation, I don’t think we are being serious in this business.
“And that is the reason we have designed this initiative, to see how we continue to go down to the grassroots, to the community, in a bid to continue to add value to our people.
“Let’s continue to learn from each other, let’s continue to teach ourselves and be the best in whatever we do, most importantly in this top six that we identify.
“We have decided that between now and the next 18 months, we are going to be doing about 3,000 training sessions. And that’s one of the main reasons we started with 50 practical pilots.
“What do we mean by practical pilots? We want them to come and see. Because at times, when you don’t see it, you think it’s not doable. So they’ve gone around the market, they’ve seen what people have been able to do in this market. And what we’re seeing is that we can do it and we can do it better.”
The Lagos Creative Arts Vault Consultant, Debo Oyewole and an international trainer from South Africa, Yulisa Maddy, assured participants of intense theoretical and practical experiences during the training in different vocational skills, which included furniture making, fashion designing, creative and entertainment arts, catering, digital marketing as well as customer service engagement.
Yulisa said he was happy to give back to his motherland, noting he was proud to be part of the project.
“It’s a blessing and I’m just proud to be here. My mum is a Nigerian. I really wanted to come and talk about training and nutrition and the importance of keeping good health.
“So the youth and everyone can be aware of how to take care of their body, how you deal with nutrition, what to eat, what’s important so we don’t get sick later – we feel healthy and vibrant and that’s what it’s all about.
“So if I can give back to my homeland, I would be more than happy to do that,” Tulisa said.
The high point of the event was the birthday celebration of Aregbe as he distributed N2m to 10 traders at the Lekki Creative Arts and Crafts Market to boost their businesses.
