Imo eyes 300,000 youths for digital skills training

• Published date: 11 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

THE Imo State government has mapped out strategies that will lead to the training of 300,000 youths of the state in digital skills acquisition over the next three years, creating wealth and a good life for the people.

The state Commissioner, Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government, Dr. Chimezie Amadi, who spoke in Owerri, the state capital, while presenting cash prize to the winner 'SkillUpImo Challenge', a sub-initiative of SkillUp Imo, a broader and premier human capacity development programme launched by the state government last December, said the Skillup Imo Challenge will accelerate the actuasation of broader objectives of the Skillup Imo.

According to him, as a propeller and offshoot of the SkillUp Imo Project, the SkillUpImo Challenge will help to fire up digital innovation and ideas among students in the state with cash prizes handed to winners each week.

The broader objectives, according to him, are to train 300,000 Imolites over the next three years, with 100,000 trained each year; connect 60 per cent of the graduands to high-paying jobs as well as empowering 40 per cent of the graduands to be their own bosses, becoming tech entrepreneurs and launching their own companies, among others.

The SkillUpImo Challenge is expected to drive the overall objective of the SkillUp Imo Project, focused on empowering citizens of Imo otherwise called Imolites with cutting-edge digital skills that will keep them relevant in the 21st century, among others.

At the maiden edition of the SkillupImo Challenge in Owerri, a student of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) Centre, Chucks Official, was adjudged winner in digital skill innovation, in the first week, based on shared experiences, ingenuity...