Hon Austine Chukwukere (Representative, Ideato North/South Federal Constituency trains Youth at the National Economic Recovery Programme (by CETVETAR UNN and UNEVOC)

It is really surprising that I did not blog about this event when it did happen. But I got the wake up call to do it when a couple of my fellow attendees had paid a courtesy visit to Hon. Austine Chukwukere to show gratitude for sponsoring us to get wholesome training in Entrepreneurship and Skills Acquisition  focused primarily on unemployed youth and NYSC corpers.

Personal thoughts before the program

I had originally felt that programs run by politicians and their governmental counterparts are mere charades to create a false portfolio with which they would use to run for the next election. I had been asked on countless occasions by the media aide to our House of Reps to be part of the program with the promise that it would be truly worth my time. It was until I saw the schedule, 4 days before the start of the program that I indeed displayed my interest. The itinerary was filled with very interesting sessions undertaken by key private and public institutions. It definitely grabbed my attention and I quickly registered my interest because I felt my presence at the event would give me the opportunity to interact with key public sector personnel especially with the Bank of Industry (BOI) with regards to their zero interest rate loan facility for NYSC Corpers through the Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund (GEF) Program.

First Day

This day had to definitely be the highlight of the day. I had seen a lot of Youth from my community at the event and I had learnt that they had transported themselves all the way from the East to attend the event. Although I knew that I had come there to interact with Public officials of the BOI and NITDA respectively, I was not convinced that the others that came there, came for the same reason, but all the same, the hall was filled with a majority of attendants sponsored either by our Senator, Hon. Hope Uzodimma and our Representative, Hon. Austine Chukwukere. The drive amongst the Youth to forge a better future amidst the economic recession that Nigeria was experiencing at the time was definitely laudable.

Highlights

I would have to give a special shout out to the organizers of the event CETVETAR (Centre for Technical, Vocational Education, Training and Research) and the UNEVOC team for making that opportunity to learn more skills possible as well as the opportunity to interact with different public institutions like the RMRDC, BOI, NITDA, SON.

Despite the fact that a number of the public institutions didn't honor their invitations (not that I am surprised), but those that were in attendance did create an impact.

I was especially appreciative of the representative of the  BOI as he iterated  the programs  that they have set in place for Youth that want to start up their own businesses at single interest loans with particular focus on agro-allied businesses. It goes to show how the Nigerian government has made efforts to create jobs for the teeming youth population. It is important to give credit where it is due but it is also key to note that there is a lot of room for improvement with regards to the bureaucracy involved in issuing loans.

I also appreciated the representative of NITDA as he explained to us about the trends of internet business in Nigeria and how it is quickly becoming the mainstay in Nigeria and the opportunities about in building your business on the internet. He went ahead to iterate the opportunities that NITDA is offering to Young people looking to learn more as well as build their businesses on the internet.

I had a special chat with a representative of the RMRDC (Raw Materials Research and Development Centre) and I was amazed at the number of raw solid minerals that Nigeria can boast of including gold and that industry has remained relatively dormant. A potential asset for Nigeria to utilize but there is still so much focus on oil. We cannot be too sure that private individuals have not been pilfering our solid minerals for years unend.

VOTE OF THANKS

Albeit, this is a very short piece. I decided to put out this post because it is important to give honor where it is due. In Nigeria, where our leaders treat the populace like their subjects instead of viewing themselves as servants to the people, our leader, Hon. Austine Chukwukere has seen the need to reorient the minds of the Youth in order for us to evolve from being a consumerist population to a productive population.

The popular saying goes, "Instead of giving a man a fish, teach him how to fish". We the Youth of Obodoukwu and indeed the entire Youth of Ideato North and South Federal Constituency are grateful for such an opportunity to learn tangible skills. We would continue put you in our prayers to continuously work hard for our communities. We acknowledge that there is still a lot of room for improvement but we indeed acknowledge your efforts towards human capacity building especially targeted at us, the Youth.

We want to use this opportunity to bring to the fore that a number of us have imbibed the training that we received through the CETVETAR to start or grow our businesses and would be appreciative of any support you can provide for us to further develop our business and indeed be employers of labour especially to ease the teeming unemployed youth population.

We want to continue to urge you to be attentive to the cries of the people as our representative as you continue to fight for us in the hallowed chambers.

In addition, 

I did have a Fireside chat on this issue with the media aide to Hon. Austine Chukwukere on the benefits of the National Economic Recovery Programme to those that attended with the right mindset.

Click here to see my video interview about the CETVETAR training



Best regards,
Ejieji Munachiso
(HubbonNG)