…Targets 500,000 trainees, 2m jobs in two years

By Emmanuel Elebeke

In a bid to realize the set goals of job creation in the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu through Technology, the TechAdvantage Apprenticeship program of the Federal government has been unveiled in Abuja.

The TechAdvantage powered by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology featured an entrepreneurship Masterclass for selected youths from across the country with a set target to train 500,000 youths and create two million jobs in the next two years.

TechAdvantage is a marketplace where people from all walks of life can register online and sell their products and services to potential customers.

Recall that the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, has in February launched the TechAdvantage Platform to offer enterprising youths opportunity to upscale their skills in technology and transfer the skills to others.

Speaking at the event, the CEO of Sapphital, organisers of the training, Mr. Amu Ogbeide, explained that the TechAdvantage platform was designed to create millions of jobs for young people, wherever they are across the country.

Also, he said the training is geared towards empowering millions of people with technological skills so that they can have the skills that they need to start up on their own.

‘‘As a country, we believe that we can solve our problems together. We can create our own product advantage. And that’s what the Minister for Innovation on Science and Technology is pushing with this TechAdvantage program. We are looking at creating 2 million jobs in the next two years. We are starting with what we call the apprenticeship program, where we are going to grow. You know, apprenticeship is one of Nigeria’s favorite ways of training the next generation. Now, we’ve taken that online.

“So, wherever you are in Nigeria, you can apply for the apprenticeship program. You will learn the technical and the soft skills that you need to succeed. So, we are starting with 500,000 apprentices. But in the long run, we are looking at creating 2 million jobs in the next two years. So, today’s ceremony was to bring some of the various stakeholders together to unveil the apprenticeship program.’’

Also speaking, the Director General of National Centre for Technology Management. NACERTEM, Olusola Odusonya, said, ‘‘what we try to do is to construct new knowledge about how we learn and our society and make people learn new skills, using the GSM apprenticeship model of learning.

“For us in NACERTEM, it is important for us to create alternative means of learning, is a self-help thing, creating alternative means of livelihood. “

On how to sustain the initiative, she said, ‘‘There should be some form of funds so that the opportunity would be used to train those coming behind.’’

The Group CEO, Saphitile, Chinedu Ogbede said the TechAdvantage was built in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President to create millions of jobs for the youth.

Narrating his experience, one of the trainees, said, ‘’I want to say that we learnd to find out the desires of the customers. I also learnd that it’s not just what you can offer, but how you can offer it and how you could package it.

Another trainee, Fatima Habukazi said, ‘One of the things that I learned today is that apprenticeship is very important. In fact, in the African setting, we need to really go about the apprenticeship, because that’s how it has always been. Nobody’s really coming to help us. We need to help ourselves at this time and to help our economy.’’