A roofing company, Plusworld Roofing and Restoration, has announced plans to train tradesmen, graduates and post-secondary students in Roofsheet Maintenance Technology.
The company launched an academy to help tackle unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria.
The CEO of Plusworld Roofing and Restoration, Dr. John Igbaifua, disclosed that the academy is targeting 10,000 participants in the next five years.
Lamenting the rising unemployment index in Nigeria, Igbaifua explained that the academy will provide an alternative by training people in all roof works which include roof design, installation, repair, restoration, maintenance and waterproofing.
He noted that the skills that participants would gain from the program are highly sought after in the real estate, construction, oil and gas industries, as well as among homeowners.
He added, “Plusworld Roofing Academy was born out of the need and concern to help the economy of our country, to break the paradox of youth unemployment and to bring professionalism to the roofing sector.
“We all know that the statistics on unemployment and underemployment are very worrying; most of the problem is unskilled labor.
“Being a practitioner in the roofing and real estate industry, one of the problems we faced is the poor quality of materials and work. So we have a lot of people who are not properly trained and certified to work.
“Plusworld Roofing Academy’s plan is to create a platform where artisans, school leavers, graduates as well as people from the construction industry who want to upgrade their skills in Roofing Maintenance Technology will be trained to become professional roofers, waterproofing specialists, roof restoration specialists and that It will come with an international certificate at a discounted rate.
“Plusworld is the only roofing academy in Nigeria at the moment. The sole purpose of the academy is to train people in roof line work which includes roof design, restoration, maintenance, waterproofing and management.
“It is a type of business in a niche industry, as you all know, Plusworld pioneered roof maintenance technology and roof restoration in Nigeria, if not Africa.
“We will train them to be roof restoration experts, structural waterproofing and HSE professionals.”
“Not only do we teach these skills, we help them become entrepreneurs. We have a module called Roofing Business Management; after the training we would teach and guide them how to start their companies.
“We would support them by making sure that we drive business their way. Another advantage of enrolling in Plusworld Academy is that immediately after the training, the participants become our technical and business agents and earn money.
Program manager Christian Emeodi also said that the training session is six weeks long, full of theoretical and practical classes.
He maintained that the participants will be trained in the modules that include; safety, introduction to roofing and roofing systems, introduction to roof maintenance and repairs, structural waterproofing, roof business management and roof restoration.
He emphasized that “the first week is for theoretical classes, and the second week for practical classes, where we explain to our students good practices in roof painting, cleaning, installation, maintenance and measuring roofs, among others.
“For the remaining four weeks, each student must spend 160 hours with us and partners under our apprenticeship and retention program.”
