PHOTO CAPTION: Senior Special Assistant to Edo State Governor on Skills Development and Job Creation/Head, EdoJobs, Mrs. Dare Ukinebo (left); and the Chairperson, First Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, at the 2-day workshop organised by the State Government in partnership with First Bank of Nigeria, for young entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the state, at the weekend in Benin City.
Yemisi Izuora
The Chairman, Board of Directors, First Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika has implored youth in Edo State to embrace job and wealth creation initiatives.
Addressing participants at a two-day workshop organised by the Edo State Government in partnership with First Bank of Nigeria for young entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the state, Awosika said: “If youth do not see good in Nigeria, then you cannot get anything good from her. Within the same Nigeria, people are creating value from what the likes of Obaseki are putting together for youth.”
Also speaking at the event, Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, said the state government has converted the Institute for Continuing Education (ICE) in Benin City to a technology innovation hub, as part of initiatives to engage and develop skills of the teeming youth population in the state.
Obaseki said:“In a few months’ time, the state government will set-up the first technology innovation hub with thousands of computers supported with high-speed connectivity. The state will invite technological companies to provide support services at the hub.”
The hub, he said, “will serve as a facility for training youths in the state. It would also be used as a centre for follow-up training for youths who are participating in similar training programmes organised by the state government in partnership with the First Bank of Nigeria.”
Obaseki explained, “The state government has decided to reposition the former Institute of Continuing Education into an advanced learning centre and an innovation hub. Work has started and, in few months, the Centre will be ready with computers and equipment for the training of our youth.”
The governor also tasked youth in the state to register on the EdoJobs portal, noting, “The portal was created to provide data from which youth who will benefit from the state government’s job and wealth creation initiatives will be selected.”
He added that the state will retrain youth to be able to realise their potential, noting, “We are trying to correct the faulty education and prepare our youth to compete favourably with youth in other parts of the world.
“We will not lament and continue to make excuses as we have drawn the line to make youth in the state productive. The next generation of children in the state will have world class basic education that will see them through life.”
Obaseki noted that the state will continue to partner with firms like First Bank of Nigeria to provide youth with remedial knowledge and skills to make them employable and become entrepreneurs.