The Lagos State Government is set to empower one million youths in digital skills and entrepreneurship by 2023 through its recently kicked off ‘Jobs Initiative Lagos.’
The initiative is targeted at young people in eight tertiary institutions in the state.
The first phase of Jobs Initiatives Lagos kicked off in June and will continue over the next four months leveraging a virtual learning platform while the Digital Skills Initiative Lagos will commence virtually until the ease of the lockdown necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The initiative will see to the complementary training of students in their ultimate and penultimate year in entrepreneurship, employability, and basic digital skills required for the workplace,” said Damilola Obidairo, GM business development &strategy, Loftylnc Allied Partners- coordinator of the project.
Obidairo stated that the essence of the program is to account for the documented gaps in the current curriculum that bedevils the employment market and to increase labour employability of graduates in Lagos.
He says that candidates who complete the program will get an opportunity to be featured on a job portal from where partner corporate organisations can select fresh graduates for recruitment.
He added that the initiative will run alongside a more robust digital skills campaign ‘Digital Skills Initiative Lagos’ aimed at empowering over one million young people in the state by 2023 with digital skills, which will invariably position Lagos as the Tech Hub of Africa.
Students in secondary schools in the state would have access to well-trained instructors while those out of school would access digital skills training and various internship opportunities as they complete the programs, he said.
The projects are being coordinated by LoftyInc Allied Partners Limited – an innovation development company that develops start-up teams manages innovation programs, and facilitates impact projects in West Africa.
An award-winning pioneer in Nigeria’s innovation sector, LoftyInc is in partnership with Microsoft, VMware’s IT Academy, Wennovation Hub, LoftyInc Capital Management, and a host of other corporates.
The two programs are in sync with the agenda of the theme of Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu in Lagos, wherein education is a key pillar with the multiplier effect of human capital development on the whole ecosystem.
The program is an initiative of the Lagos State Ministry of Education and supervised by the Office of Special Adviser led by Tokunbo Wahab.
