September 9, 2024

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Economy/Business

Digital skills: FG opens portal for eligible Nigerians

By Salisu Sani-Idris

The Federal Government, in collaboration with Wema Bank is inviting eligible Nigerians to apply for its recently launched digital skills programme for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Mr Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation and MSMEs, Office of the Vice-President, made this known in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

Adekunle-Johnson said entries for the FGN X ALAT Digital Skillnovation Programme were open to tech enthusiasts, aspiring entrepreneurs, business owners, job seekers, working professionals and visionary future leaders.

According to him, interested and eligible Nigerians can visit https://fg-skillnovation.alat.ng and apply for the programme.

Adekunle-Johnson, who disclosed that the portal would open from Monday, said that applicants must be Nigerian citizens residing in Nigeria.

” And must be between the ages of 18 and 35; have literacy and numeracy skills with formal education as a plus and not mandatory.

” Applicants must also have a digital device, a smartphone, laptop, or a desktop to help stay connected and engaged.

” They must be ready to commit to the entire duration of the programme and have keen interest in digital skills, entrepreneurship or technology. ”

Adekunle-Johnson listed some of the benefits of the programme to include training and guiding growth through shared knowledge and experience.

Others are growth and development of skills with the best mentorship, funding for innovative ideas, fostering startups for success and connecting products, as well as expanding reach.

He said that the FGN X ALAT Digital Skillnovation programme also guarantees access to funding worth several millions of dollars in mentorship, job prospects and grants.

This, according to him, is with a view to bring the ideas of beneficiaries to life and real market experiences, among other benefits.

Adekunle-Johnson said, ” Again, interested Nigerians should go to https://fg-skillnovation.alat.ng and apply for the programme.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government, in partnership with the bank, recently announced that it had concluded arrangements to train two million youths on digital skills.

The Director of Information, Office of the Vice President, Mr Olusola Abiola, in a statement, said the training is in furtherance of the Federal Government’s pledge to support the job creation agenda of the Tinubu administration.

“ Wema bank, in partnership with the Office of the Vice President, has concluded arrangements to commence an initiative that will impact two million youths and one million MSMEs across the country.” (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

Economy/Business

FG, WEMA bank to train 2m youths on digital skills

By Salisu Sani-Idris

The Federal Government, in partnership with WEMA Bank, has concluded arrangements to train two million youths on digital skills.

The Director of Information, Office of the Vice President, Mr Olusola Abiola, made this known in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

He said the training is in furtherance of the Federal Government’s pledge to support the job creation agenda of the Tinubu administration.

“WEMA Bank, in partnership with the Office of the Vice President, has concluded arrangements to commence an initiative that will impact two million youths and one million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across the country.”

He said that the Managing Director of the bank, Mr Moruf Oseni, during a courtesy visit to the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, presented an update report to him on the programme.

“The delegation was at the Villa to brief the Vice President on the progress made in the implementation of the FGN-ALAT Digital Skill-Novation Programme, which is an initiative of a partnership between government and the bank.

“This is with a view to training two million youths and empowering one million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across Nigeria.”

Shettima lauded the commitment and partnership of the bank for the initiative.

“I will call on you to be above board. You are a good organisation. I want to thank you most sincerely for your initiative and commitment, be rest assured that we will fulfill our own part of the bargain.”

In an interview with State House correspondents, the bank’s MD, Oseni, said they were at the Presidential Villa to brief Shettima on how far they have gone on the FGN/ALAT project.

“Vice President was very happy, and shortly you will hear from his office of how we want to progress with this programme, part of this is to help create innovation hubs across the country for us,” Oseni said.

“Mr president came out with a very bold and audacious plan on how to revive the Nigerian economy. The banks are a key player and we will put in our best to actualize this.

“If Nigeria does well, the financial institutions will do well. Mr. President is 100 per cent on track and we are totally in support of his administration.”

Also, Mr Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation and MSMEs, said the significance of the collaboration cannot be overemphasised.

“There is power in partnership. Private sector and the public sector coming together can always do more for the people.

“Mr. President’s ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda cannot be achieved by the government or private sector alone as it requires all hands on deck.

“So, we dug deep into the private sector to see how they can actually play their own role. In the first instance, they agreed to partner with us on skills acquisition and in other aspects of the scheme that we plan to implement.”

The FGN/ALAT Digital Skill-Novation Programme will be formally launched by the Vice President on the 29th of September at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja.

Also present at Monday’s meeting were Mr Tunde Mabawonko, Executive Director, WEMA Bank; Mr Bamidele Adefemi, Head of Federal Public Sector, and Mr Chioma Onuaguluchi, Regional Manager, Wema Bank, Abuja. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Vincent Obi

General News

Data-Lead Africa trains 20 deaf children on digital skills

 

By Ruth Oketunde

Data-Lead Africa, a consulting firm,  has trained 20 deaf children on various digital skills in the FCT.

The organisation said this at the graduation ceremony for the participants of its Summer Boot Camp tagged Digits and Signs for Deaf Kids, in Abuja.

Ms Ojone Akor, Programs Manager and DEI Coordinator, Data-Lead Africa, said the four the  week-long boot camp focused on improving the digital skills of the children.

She said the training focused on creating change in the deaf community by introducing the participants to cross-cutting issues around inclusion and social initiatives.

She said that the training focused on improving the IT skills, knowledge of mathematics as well as programming skills of the children to equip them for the future.

“When we started, we noticed that some of them struggled with things like greater than and less than, two-digits addition, they also had no experience using computer, but we have been able to educate them on these things.

“I am very much excited about the fact that we have been able to empower the deaf kids through digits and signs programme on the use of mathematics and computer in this digital age.

“For the digit and signs programme, this is our pilot programme as we wanted to see how we will reach out to deaf kids and how we will be able to empower them and catch them young.

“So we partnered with the Abuja School for the Deaf and we got the participants to come in for the training, so subsequently, we will be organising more programmes like this and increase the number of participants to be able to reach out to as many as possible,” she said.

Akor said that the organisation would be deploying some of its trainers to follow-up with the children and mentor them for the next six months, in a bid to improve their academic performance.

“We are in a digital age and everything is driven by data and everything you are doing is driven by IT and information, so being able empower them while they are young is a thing of joy to us.

“We have modern aid tools used for analysis, programming among others, so bringing these children into this type of training gives them an edge among their peers,” she said.

Also speaking, Mr Bamidele Olaitan, the Assistant Head Teacher of Abuja School for the Deaf, appreciated the organisation for the training, adding that the new skills learnt would place them aper with their peers in other climes.

“Engaging the children during this holiday is a kudos to the organisers and I know that what they have learnt today will be meaningful to their future.

“This is not about learning it alone, they can as well practice it, especially the less privileged among them loves any thing that has to do with skill acquisition.

“I believe that what this organisation have done for them will not be the end of it, we will want to have more partnership with them so that they can train more students during their long vacation,” he said.

Miss Gami Nanring, a participant who spoke through an interpreter, appreciated the organisers for the training, adding that her desire is to work as a computer technologist in the future.

“I always want to learn new things, all I need is to do more training and learn more things about computer and I know I can develop better.

“We were taught PowerPoint, Microsoft word and many more things, they made it more easy to understand and comprehend,” she said.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Sadiya Hamza

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