Imo State Government has graduated 10,000 youths on digital Skill-Up Programme, having successfully completed the digital training under the Imo State Cohort 3 of Skill-Up Project.
In the recent past 40,000 youths, comprising young men and young women, were trained in the Imo State Cohorts 1 and 2 in various fields like the software engineering, AI, cyber security, digital marketing, among others as many of them are said to be either gainfully employed in the digital technology outside Imo State or self-employed.
Speaking on entrepreneurship drive in the State, Governor Hope Uzodinma said that his Administration is laying durable, practical and forward- looking foundation in Imo State with the Skill-Up Imo Programme.
Governror Uzodinma, during the graduation ceremony, unveiled a digital device known as MyImoApp, which would enable citizens to engage with Government, seamlessly for services like land record verification, documentation, tax payments, emergency reporting and business promotion from anywhere around the world.
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Speaking to the 10,000 graduates, Governor Uzodinma congratulated them and expressed happiness over his administration’s earlier resolve to focus on digital skill acquisition, youth empowerment as well as placing Imo State at the forefront of the 21st Century digital economy.
“We are not casually training people; we are laying practical, durable, and forward-facing foundations. We are building our the Imo Digital City, which will host Nigeria’s first state-level Artificial Intelligence Institute, a Robotics and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) hub, Innovation Labs, Digital Learning Centres, and a Digital Entrepreneurship Centre which is designed to serve real needs and unlock real value”, Governor Uzodinma said.
To the new graduates, he said, “What you need, and what we are building are platforms, the tools, and the policies to ensure your skills find full expression. Your success is not a side benefit of our digital policy, it is the point of it.
“I urge you to use what you have learnt, not only to create work for yourselves, but to become creators of work for others. Be solution-minded. Build with purpose. Think of your local government area, your community, and your State and ask; how can technology make things better?”
He, however, commended the programme partners, including the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, NITDA, Microsoft, Zinox Computers, Cisco, UNDP, US-MAC, and the University of California, Berkeley, for believing in what Imo is building up and for helping to deliver the programmes.
