Following the successful graduation of 5,000 youths in Cohort 1 of Imo State’s youth digital empowerment and employment scheme dubbed: SkillUpImo Project, the State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, is set to commence the second segment of the digital skills acquisition programme.

This is just as the State government is considering partnership with technology companies such as Cisco, Hauwei and Microsoft as well as the National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) for certification and value optimisation of the programme.

The continuation of the programme with the Cohort 2 is in keeping with the vision of making Imo State the leading digital economy hub of the nation and having delivered on the promises made on the flag-off of the first leg of the SkillUpImo Project under the direct implementation purview of the State’s Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government.

The State Governor places high premium on the SkillUpImo project due to its potential of achieving the triple objectives of positioning Imo state as the digital skills hub of Africa, tackling youth unemployment as well as diversifying and building the state’s digital economy.

Already in the Cohort 2, 15,000 Imolites are now jostling for 10,000 slots at the ongoing enrolment, a reflection of the realisation of the success of the Cohort 1 training programme which have produced graduands, who are already monetizing their skills as techpreneurs while others have been linked to various employment opportunities.

Speaking in an interview, Dr. Chimezie Amadi, the Hon. Commissioner for Digital Economy and E-Government,  confirmed that Pre- Admission Assessment has been conducted for over 15, 000 prospective trainees who registered for the Digital skills training, which he said was oversubscribed.

“Unlike in Cohort 1, we had to conduct the pre-admission assessment to enable us to sieve the huge size of prospective trainees and ensure that only committed learners were admitted and enrolled in the right programme. We learnt a lot of lessons in the course of managing Cohort 1 and the introduction of Pre-admission assessment is one of the ways designed to improve our processes to meet the programme objective and achieve the intended outcome,” he Amadi said.

According to the Commissioner, going by the extent of work his Ministry had done with respect to process re-engineering, Cohort 2 promises an enhanced learning experience for both learner and instructors in the programme.

Explaingn further, Amadi said, “In Cohort 2, four additional learning centers  viz : Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Imo Polytechnic Omuma, University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Umuagwo and K. O Mbadiwe University, Ideato, have been established to complement the existing learning centers at the Ministry of Digital Economy and E- Government headquarters. These existing learning centres are Imo State University, Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Polytechnic Nekede and Claretian University, all geared towards enhancing access to digital skills learning for Imo youths across the State.”

While stating that the training will cover various sheds of soft and hard digital skills, the Commissioner said his Ministry will be partnering with technology companies such as Cisco, Hauwei and Microsoft as well as the National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) for certification and value optimisation of the programme.

Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government conducted Pre-admission assessment tests on the March 23, 2023 and had commenced issuing admission letters online from March 28, 2023 to successful candidates. Also, onboarding of admitted students is to be carried out on March 29, 2023 at the various designated centres while the Orientation Programme will hold online on the March 31, 2023.

The SkillUpImo Project is rooted in the First Pillar of the Imo Digital Economy Agenda (I.D.E.A) 2022-2026 on Digital Literacy and Skills with the objective of positioning Imo as Africa’s Skills Hub through massive training of 300,000 Imolites in new innovative and industry 4.0 skillset that equips them to be productively employed or self-employed in a digitally evolving world.

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About 5,000 youths in Imo State are set to graduate from a digital empowerment programme put in place by Senator Hope Uzodimma, the Executive Governor of Imo State.

According to a statement on Sunday signed by Sandra Opara, Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Digital Economy & E-Governmemt, Imo State, already, Prof. Isa Pantami, the Minister, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, is scheduled to attend the event being organised by the first state in the Federation to align its Information and Communications Technology development drive with the Federal Government’s digital economy policy.

The project tagged: SkillUpImo Project, being implemented by the State’s Ministry of Digital Economy & E-government has the aim of equipping the citizens of Imo with top digital skills for the new world ecosystem pivoted on knowledge economy.

The SkillUpImo Project has the overarching target of upskilling, reskilling and training of 300, 000 Imo youths to acquire the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) skill-set needed to align with the evolving world.

The initiative is in line with the Imo Digital Economy Agenda (IDEA), which is mapped to last 2022-2026 with the aim of not only making Imo the digital-skills hub of Africa but also curbing the snag of unemployment in the state.

In line with the first Pillar of the IDEA anchored on “Digital Literacy and Skills”, the Project has the vision to graduate employable youths to the society as well as youths who are self-employable and productive to the society and the world at large.

Speaking on the planned official graduation ceremony of the 5,000 Imo youths, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023, the State’s Commissioner for Digital Economy and E-Government, Dr. Amadi Chimezie, expressed satisfaction that the programme has started yielding its intended positive results.

According to him, the scheme is poised to addressing one of the critical challenges with respect to youth unemployment, which the country is facing, adding that Imo State has positioned itself to join hands with the Federal Government towards tackling the snag through the State’s digital skill acquisition scheme.

“So, it is gratifying to the State Governmemt that our graduands – who came in with little or no experience in digital technology have been equipped with skills in Digitale Marketing, Web and App Development, Content Creation, Basic data analytics, Graphics design, Phone and other digital devices repairs, programming, cyber security, among others and they are now set to graduate to begin to utilize their acquired skills for their personal economi growth and that of the society,” he said.

He further commended the State Govenor for his passion for digital empowerment of the youths with the objective of positioning Imo as Africa’s Digital Skills hub, through massive training of Imolites from all walks of life to enable them to obtain digital literacy skills at no cost.

The Commissioner called on all graduands set for Wednesday’s official graduation ceremony to make the best use of the skills learnt towards transforming Imo State and by extension, the entire country, into a bedrock of technological advancement in Africa.

“We won’t rest on our oars until the target of training 300,000 Imolites is achieved in line with the vision of our people-centric Executive Governor, Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma,” he added.

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