ABUJA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday launched a Luban workshop facility in central Nigeria, with an aim of providing high-end technical skills training to help college students meet the requirements of the emerging global market.

The workshop facility hosted by the University of Abuja, the only public university in the Nigerian capital, will at the initial stage offer course majors including Urban Rail Transit Traffic Management, Urban Rail Transit Vehicles, and Railway Bridges and Tunnels.

Other majors will include electronics, power mechanisms, and telecommunications.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Nigeria Luban workshop and its operation, Abdulrasheed Na'Allah, Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja, said the facility, established with the support of the Tianjin Sino-German University of Applied Sciences and Tianjin Railway Vocation and Technical College, will help in improving the skills of young Nigerians while promoting the Belt and Road Initiative of the Chinese government.

"That today's ceremony is taking place is evidence of the exceptional work on the part of the partners to achieve success for our two nations and our peoples," Na'Allah said.

The program is named after Lu Ban, an ancient Chinese woodcraft master, and aims at cultivating technical experts worldwide to serve their countries' economy and society.

The establishment of the Nigeria Luban workshop and its aims and objectives are, according to the Nigerian university vice-chancellor, "an example of people-to-people engagement at the grassroots which is capable of cementing friendship between Nigerian and Chinese people forever," as well as "an example of a true partnership that is recommended to nations sincerely eager to forge genuine friendship".

Na'Allah thanked the Chinese government for the opportunity given to the University of Abuja to host the workshop, saying it will contribute immensely to strengthening the university's opportunities to not only be at the forefront of the movement for the educational, technological, and economic development of Nigeria but to also be a world-class university.

In September 2018, China announced that 10 Luban workshops would be established in Africa to provide vocational skills training for African youths, under the framework of the Forum On China-Africa Cooperation.

The agreement to set up a Luban Workshop in Nigeria was inked in Tianjin on Nov. 14, 2019 by the Tianjin Railway Technical and Vocational College, the Tianjin Sino-German University of Applied Sciences, and the University of Abuja.

Luban workshop textbooks were also launched during the virtual opening ceremony, held simultaneously in Abuja and Tianjin on Friday. The event was attended by senior Nigerian and Chinese officials, including Cao Xiaohong, vice mayor of Tianjin.

Nigeria's education minister Adamu Adamu, represented by a senior ministry official, said the role of the youth, being the targeted beneficiaries of the Luban workshop, cannot be overemphasized and the program will duly contribute to the economic advancement of Nigeria.

"This laudable initiative by the government of the People's Republic of China is commendable due to the technical and professional training for the good and development of our nation," he added. Enditem

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