The Minister of Public Service and Labour, Anastase Murekezi on Monday commissioned construction works for the Integrated Craft Production Centre (ICPC), in Bugesera district, Eastern Province. The centre, to be constructed at a cost of Rwf500 million, will help nurture everyone interested in technical skills mainly in the fields of art, carpentry, construction, crafts among others. Besides being a selling point for different artefacts, the centre will help the youth gain hands-on skills through apprenticeship with the craftspersons.

According to the minister, the centre is the improvement of what is locally known as 'Agakinjiro' now with the new name "Agakiriro" an indication of the centre's ambition to be a source of wealth.

With the Agakinjiro, the minister said, the practitioners operated in obscurity with hardly room to grow in terms of technology and the scope of investment. "In this centre, we will have young boys and girls, men and women producing different products from different materials and it will be another chance even for those with the skills to sharpen them to make better products," Murekezi said.

In the time where, the minister says, at least 125,000 people join the labour market every year and with only 104,000 available opportunities altogether, ICPCs will help bridge this gap. The centres, which will be created in every district are expected to generate 25,000 jobs once they are up and running.

The ICPR of Maranyundo that, according to the Mayor of Bugesera district, Louis Rwagaju, will be ready by the end of this year, is supposed to generate more than 2,500 new jobs. According to Rwagaju, the facility will not exclusively promote technical products but also have services like commercial banks, restaurants and bars.

Source : allafrica.com