Enugu State government through the state’s Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Centre has announced the plan to train additional 500 youths in Programming and Product Design.
The training is part of the concerted efforts of the state government to create employment opportunities for about 5,000 youths in the state, in various fields of innovative endeavor.
According to a statement by the Arinze Chilo-Offiah, special adviser to the Governor on SMEs Development and Director General, Enugu SMEs Centre said that the Centre had trained 500 youths in Programming and Product Design, under the Enugu Tech Skill Project.
Chilo-Offiah explained that “Enugu Tech Skill is a public-private partnership project developed and designed to train and provide a pathway to create new jobs for about 5,000 young people in Enugu State”.
The SMEs Special Adviser said that the successful beneficiaries will have the opportunity to learn either Product Design (UIxUX) or Programming “with respect to your application and choice of programme”.
He added that the programme was structured under the Human Capital Development Loan (HCDL) Scheme which is an innovative loan programme that is intended to solely provide training for individuals who are resident in Enugu State on technical and non-technical capacities in partnership with a private sector firm called “Utiva”.
According to him “the Enugu SMEs Agency in partnership with the Utiva will then provide access to jobs (full time, part-time, contract, gig-economy jobs and entrepreneurial support). The funds are then repaid within four months (after the training).
“The Programming (Web and App Development) Training Programme (PTP) runs for two months and the Product Design & Animation Programme is for one month, exclusive of the capstone project”.
Disclosing that the beneficiaries of the second batch of the 2021 Enugu Tech Skill project have graduated, Chilo-Offiah revealed that the graduation ceremony, which included presentation of challenges and solutions on making apps better, easier to use, and how they can penetrate the consumer market in other states in Nigeria, was exceptionally successful.
“This takes the number of youths trained in Programming and Product Design to 500 with 500 more to benefit.
He said that with digital skills being the jobs of the future, Enugu State is in line to have well skilled techies to support startups and Tech companies in the country and the continent as a whole.
