MindTheGap Community and Youth Development Foundation has partnered the Youth Development Department of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to train 1,000 secondary school leavers in the territory on digital skills.
The Executive Director of the foundation, Mr Tayo Olosunde, at the inaugural session of the “On-the-job Internship and Apprenticeship Programme in Abuja on Wednesday, said the training was geared toward developing youth potential.
Olosunde said the programme, supported by Google.org, was aimed to equip the ‘Youth Not in Education, Employment, or Training (YNEET)’ with essential digital skills to access job opportunities or start their own businesses.
He said that equipping youths with digital skills was not just about employability but empowering them to become active economic agents thereby contributing to the overall development of the nation.
“Over one million Nigerian youths apply for JAMB every year and less than 300,000 get admission every year, so back to back in every year, over 700,000 of them don’t get admission.
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“Statistics show that the number of those not doing anything is growing close to 15 million now and as we speak right now, where there is ministry of education that caters for secondary schools, polytechnics and universities, there is no ministry of uneducated.
“And these are the people that give the nation the biggest problem.
“Those in education are contributing in some way to the economy but these people, it doesn’t mean they are not smart or intelligent, but we have not just identified how to tap into the resources and to connect them with the opportunities available all around.
“Somebody needs them somewhere and that is why we’ve decided to bring them together to train them,” he said.
Also, the Mandate Secretary, Social Development Secretariat (SDS), FCTA, Alhaji Muntari Abdulkadir, encouraged the youth to be determined to make impact through the skills training.
Abdulkadir, represented by the Director of Youth, SDS, Asabe Umar, urged the youth to tap into the opportunities to have a better life devoid of crimes.
“Government is committed in ensuring that it betters the lives of the citizenry. In the renewed hope agenda of the president, youth empowerment is key.
“The Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, is also very much interested in our youths and what they will turn out to be.
So, we have to throw our weight behind programmes like this to collaborate with the foundation because the total population of youths is also dependent on both private and government sector.
“The internship programme will help the youth in very useful ways, instead of loitering the street after secondary school education and joining banditry, Yahoo Yahoo, we capture them, work on their minds so that they will be better Nigerians,” he said.
One of the trainees, Romanus Abudu, expressed hope in the future of the country, noting that the training would go a long way in occupying the minds of the youth into positive adventures.
Abudu urged state governors to take advantage of such training through collaboration with the foundation to bring these opportunities to the youth at the grassroots.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the programme which will run for three months is for all secondary school leavers within the ages of 18 and 25, who are awaiting admission into the university.(NAN)
