Governor Udom Emmanuel
The Akwa Ibom state government says it will be marching 10,000 youths into prosperity this year through capacity building programmes in ICT and other vocations under its small and medium scale enterprise development initiative.
The Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel dropped the hint at the 2019 end-of-year get-together for youths of the state, held at Christ the King primary school, Uyo.
Emmanuel said the state government will partner with google and NIIT to train the youths and get them certified for lucrative, internet-based jobs that will give them value for the time they spent daily on the internet.
“The state government will partner organisations like Google, NIIT and others, to provide training and certification for youths who are into photography, cinematics, robotics and other fields, with the intention to make sure that by the end of 2020, up to 10,000 youths from the state are certified, thereby taking them off the improper usage of the internet usage into lucrative ventures that will guarantee their financial independence.”
The Governor, represented by the Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Prince Ukpong Akpabio and his Senior Special Assistant on Entrepreneurial Development and Marketing, Mr. Ime Uwah, said his administration has come up with two new projects called “Ibom 3000 initiative” and “Ibom business clinic”, for the empowerment of the youths.
The projects which target youths who have existing businesses are aimed to increase capacity of their ventures.
The projects which according to the governor will involve the setting up of entrepreneurship centres in the 31 local government areas of the state, will provide business mentorship for small and medium scale young business owners.
He announced that registration for the programmes will commence simultaneously in all the LGAs from Monday, 6th January, 2020 while those for the Business Clinic will have to visit the State Ministry of Trade and Investment for sessions with experts on how to grow their businesses.
The Governor called on the youths to cooperate with the government for the full implementation of the projects.
In a goodwill message, the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, Obong Paul Ekpo thanked the youths for the support they gave to the Governor and the party during the 2019 elections and the post- elections litigations.
The Commissioner for Youths and Sports, in the state, Mr. Monday Uko, assured the Governor that the youths are resolute in their support for him.
The 2019 end-of-year get-together for the youths was to appreciate their unwavering support to the Governor during the last election, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Youth Matters, Mr. Aniefiok Iwa-Udofia, said.
