A career advice outfit called Kitian Training Hub recently confirmed the receipt of no fewer than 3,000 applications from interested youths in Oyo State for free training acquisition in digital skills and handcrafts.
Of this number, the organisation said that about 200 youths were shortlisted for the ongoing four-week-intensive-training holding in Ibadan, the state capital.
In an interview at the opening of the programme, the Chief Executive Officer of Kitian Training Hub, Mrs Taiwo Oshunniyi, disclosed that the objective of the initiative was to close the widening skill gap within the economy.
The free training, which was organised in partnership with Unity Bank, featured graphics design, web design, UI/UX design, fashion design, domestic electrical installations, MS Word suit and data analytics.
Oshunniyi said, “The training should fill some unemployment gap. It’s a four-week programme. Some of our students picked courses which they already have an interest in and with the knowledge they will gain here, they will enhance their skills and even provide employment for other people.
“The ones that are undergraduates, when ASUU calls off the strike action, will go back to schools. And with skills they will gain here, it will be easy for them to earn money by rendering services with the skills that they have gained.
“It’s a skill gap that we are filling. You don’t actually need to be a graduate to acquire these skills, which is why we are organising this.”
The Special Assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State on Student Affairs, Mr Victor Olojede, who lauded the initiative, said that his office was ready to partner relevant stakeholders to provide skills to students, especially during the prolonged ASUU strike.
Olojede said that “The skill acquisition is not just for students in high institutions. The government of Oyo State has done so much on youth empowerment and it is making sure that students and youths get skills that will help them to be self-employed and employers.
“If we don’t pass the skill on, it won’t be good. I will tell people to have good academic grade, but you need to acquire skills. My dad once told me with this your certificate you couldn’t get a job so I knew I needed to acquire skills to pull through in life.
“There are lots of young people on the streets begging to clean cars. The office of SSA Students Affairs is open to you participants who are students. My office, every year in November, hold induction for students.”
Participants at the programme expressed optimism that the trainings would aid them in contributing their quota to the Nigerian economy.
