FG: 40 Students in Six Geopolitical Zones to Undergo Jewellery Training 

Kasim Sumaina

The federal government has selected 40 Nigerian students from the six geopolitical zones of the country to undergo 8 month master training programme in jewellery object design, manufacturing, stone setting, costing and market research.

Government said that the students are expected to go back to their states and open clusters with the assistance of their state governments to train more operators.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilenka Adegbite, at a stakeholders meeting in Abuja, however said, “unfortunately, the gemstone and jewellery industry in Nigeria has remained undeveloped and mined by artisanal mining operations, sold as rough gemstones in Germany, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the United States.”

He reasoned that the jewellery industry can contribute significantly to national economic growth in ways like job creation along with its value chain of mine to market; increase in livelihood standards with creativity of citizens, export contribution of over a $100m and import substitution.

He said since Nigeria is a large consumer of jewellery products from the United Arab Emirates, India, China and Europe, providing local but quality jewellery will save the country of scare foreign exchange and encourage tourism and manufacturing of local crafts. 

Olamilekan noted that to strengthen local production of jewellery, it has become imperative to train Nigerians in the industry for the market. To this end, the government developed a roadmap after conducting a baseline study for the Nigerian gemstone industry.