Nigeria aims to train five million out of poverty
A presidential skills programme has graduated its first 700 young people in Oyo State, with laptops, sewing machines and make-up kits to start work.
Ibadan — Nigeria's federal government says it wants to lift five million people out of poverty over four years through skills training, Vanguard reports.
The target was set out on Friday at a graduation ceremony at the University of Ibadan for 700 young people from Oyo State, who had completed two weeks of training that began on 28 September.
"What we want to do is to move as many people out of poverty as possible," said Dr Abiola Arogundade, the president's senior special assistant on technical, vocational and entrepreneurship education. "They need opportunity. They need skills. They need the tools to compete and build sustainable livelihoods."
What they learned
The courses covered artificial intelligence and graphic design, make-up artistry, fashion design and working in the digital economy. Eighty-five people trained in make-up artistry, 85 in fashion design and 30 in AI and graphics.
Participants received equipment to start with: laptops, tablets, sewing machines and make-up kits. Five hundred were given digital devices.
"What you receive today is not the destination. It is the beginning," Arogundade told them.
Next
Later phases are planned to take 1,200 participants each.
One graduate, Olaleye Idowu, a final-year international relations student, said the course had introduced the group to the fundamentals of AI and how it is applied.
This report is based on reporting by Vanguard, published by AllAfrica.
