Enugu, Nov. 19, 2023: Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, has promised that his administration would continue to train at least 40,000 youths across the state on relevant digital and entrepreneurial skills annually.
The training, he said, would enable them to compete in the global digital and entrepreneurial markets.
The governor made the pledge while delivering a keynote address at the Tech and Entrepreneurship (TxE) Summit in Enugu on Saturday with the theme “Innovation Unleashed: Transforming Enugu’s Future”.
He disclosed that the state government under him had already commenced the training of youths on digital innovation, programming, digital marketing, financial technology, entrepreneurship, among other requisite technology, financial and business skills.
Speaking on the theme, Mbah said the strategic role of his government in enabling better and viable future for the youths operating in the state was to provide an environment full of opportunities for them to thrive.
He stressed that measures were being put in place that would ignite the young ones in the state to unleash the creative energy in them by embracing the emerging future of robotics, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, innovation through skills in information and technology.
The governor, who observed that the global order was rapidly moving away from analogue and anachronistic ways of doing things to a modern perspective enabled by technology, charged the youths to seize the opportunity the TeX summit had afforded them to learn new ways of doing things.
This, he asserted, would enable them remain relevant and economically self-reliant in a competitive global sphere.
“We are talking about robotics, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, among other emerging skills today. These are perhaps skills that would keep you relevant in today’s world.
“Ours in Enugu State is to provide you with the right environment, the support and the skills,” he said
While looking at the synergy between technology and entrepreneurship, the governor enjoined the youths to think creatively and come up with ideas of what to do to add value to the market by repositioning themselves to solve some of the needs of the society.
According to him, the youths should create their own greener pasture in Nigeria without having to travel overseas with the right training and skills which he said his government would facilitate by partnering with different tech industries.
“My objective here is to get you to begin to think digitally, to understand that the emerging future is the one that requires you to acquire a digital skill to thrive.
“And with those digital skills, you do not need to contemplate leaving this country. I know you might think that the pastures are greener in Europe and the America’s but that is not true.
“Anybody that told you that has perhaps lied to you. The innovation landscape here is not barren at all,” he advised them.
Speaking earlier, the founder of TxE Africa, Williams Uche-Mbah, said this year’s event represented the huge potential and promise that Enugu holds for the youths in the fields of technology and entrepreneurship.
He noted that the summit was conceived to ignite innovation, foster collaboration and empower the local entrepreneurial community of youths in the state to unleash a new wave of technological innovation, economic growth and a platform for the global market.
Uche-mbah further maintained that youths embracing the right tech skills would escape from the scourge of unemployment and poverty, which was the aim of the summit.
“The objective of this summit is to create a platform to groom our youth in much needed tech and business skills to first decongest the rate of unemployment in Nigeria, and position you for global relevance.
“Our vision is to reach and empower one million people across Nigeria before the year 2027, and if you wonder how possible this is, look around you,” he stressed.
