…..says essence is to make Oguta an ICT hub in the South East
Caption: L-R : Chairman of the occasion, Former Deputy Governor of Imo State, Rt. Hon Alphonsus Gerald Irona ; Chairman Otu Osisioma Age Grade, Lagos branch, Pastor Chuks Nduka; Former Deputy Managing Director AGIP Oil, Matron Otu Osisioma Age Grade Ogbuefi Callista C Azogu (Ada Ameshi) ; Distinguished Senator Ositadinma Izunaso, Senator representing Orlu zone, Imo State
A social cultural group, Otu Osisioma Age Grade in Oguta Ameshi, Orlu Senatorial District of Imo State, has moved against insecurity and unemployment in the state with the launch of an initiative to empower and employ 5,000 youths annually.
The project, titled “Osisioma Leap Initiative”, which focuses on technology, agriculture and art industry, according to its organisers, aims at empowering the youths of Oguta and neighbouring communities to stay away from crimes as well as solving insecurity issues in Imo State.
Speaking at the launch of Osisioma/Oasis Multipurpose Complex for Youth Empowerment project in Abuja, the Senator representing Imo West Senatorial District, Osita Izunaso, while lauding the initiative of the age grade, appealed to communities to work hand in hand with the government to achieve desired goals.
Noting that the problem of insecurity concerns everybody and as such requires collective efforts, he said the Senate, worried by the development had recently deliberated on it with a view to addressing the disturbing issue.
Senator Izunaso said:”The problem of insecurity concerns everybody, both the rich and the poor, the old and the young. So it requires a collective efforts. That is why we had to bring it to the floor of the Senate for the federal government to work in harmony with the state governments, to find lasting solution to the issue of insecurity.
“With all the projects of Osisioma: the multipurpose hall, the agricultural initiative, the ICT and other laudable Initiative, if there’s no security, nothing will work. So, security is a major issue. We are working very hard to ensure that security in Imo State is improved. It’s not something that will be discussed publicly but the federal government is collaborating with the state, said Izunaso.
“We appeal to everybody to contribute to ending this menace”
According to Izunaso, “this is a partnership that would work, hence, we will always encourage communities to work hand in hand with the government so they can achieve desired goals,”he said.
“Osisioma Age Grade want to provide enabling environment for youths to learn and begin to feed themselves from there, I believe this is a good project. I will support this project personally” said Izunaso.
Also speaking, former deputy governor of Imo State, Gerald Irona, who also described the initiative as a laudable one, explained that its essence was “to engage our employable youths in self employment.”
He said “We are kick-starting with ICT because ICT is a mobile job, whereby you can stay anywhere to do. The whole essence is to make Oguta an ICT hub in the South East
“You don’t have to come from Oguta to be engaged in this but the point is that we want to engage our sons and daughters in a way and manner that they will be self employed and self-reliant. Government cannot do it alone. So, Age Grade in partnership with the community, government and other well to do individuals will be involved in this
“This is a worthy project and I commend Otu Osisioma Age Grade for the bold initiative. The whole essence of this is to churn out people that will be ICT compliant said Irona.
On her part, the Convener and Chief Host/ Matron, Otu Osisioma Age Grade and former Deputy Managing Director, Agip Oil Company Limited, Ogbuefi Callista Azogu, (Ada Amechi) lamented the current situation in the country.
According to her, the Current situation of the country in terms of employment is very poor.
Her words ‘We have a lot of our young people who are unemployed and this is what is fueling insecurity in our country today.
“We want to empower our younger generations by giving them training that will enable them to run and own their own small businesses because SMEs are actually the bedrock of any society.
“We want to be able to achieve this target, because we believe that it will empower them and they will be able to empower the society as a whole, thus reducing the insecurity and criminality that we generally have in the country and also in our area.
According to Ogbuefi Azogu, the target is not to only train young people and the needy, but to also support them after the training.
“The objective is to empower our people, improve their means of livelihood, their status in the society, thereby building a more responsible future generation.
“Out main target is to create employment for about 5,000 youths annually but for this year, we are targeting about at least,1000 youths this year since the year is half way” she stated.
Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of Otu Osisioma Age Grade, Pastor Chuks Nduka, explained that the beauty of the project was that the youth who would be trained will begin to earn in dollars wherever they are working from.
Nduka, who noted that Otu Osisioma Age Grade is one of the age grades in Oguta, explained that Osisioma Age Grade is currently the voice of the community.
“So predominantly, we are like the age grade that is on the cutting edge in terms of giving vision to our community. But in this particular project, we are looking beyond our community, because we believe that if you concentrate only on your community, what about others. If you make only your community right and there’s insecurity in your neighboring communities, the activities of youths who are miscreants in those communities will affect you.
“So, that is what we are trying to stop, it’s not enough to just solve the problems of our immediate community, we are looking at neighboring communities. So this programme is like a large boat that will accommodate everybody.
“The beauty of this project is that jobs are waiting, I mean foreign jobs that will earn dollars, so it’s not just that we are training them, there will be jobs for them. The technocrats that we are partnering with, want to train our youths to have jobs from Microsoft, from Google who are experts on information technology and are trying to build local hubs. It’s like you can be in your home and work for Microsoft and Google. That is the kind of local hubs they want to create and they are members of our association’ said Nduka.
Speaking about other projects executed in the past by Otu Osisioma Age Grade, Nduka said “We have always been on the forefront of developmental initiatives, social functions, things that we know will move the community forward but we know that is not enough. Unemployment is more and we have decided to tackle that” he said.
“Our target is to create minimum of 5,000 jobs in a year. But our immediate target is to give 1,000 jobs between now and December.
The Deputy Comptroller General, Nigerian Correctional Services and a member of the Osisioma Age Grade, Sly Nwakuche, explained that the programme was a cutting edge initiative being powered by the age grade.
His words “I’m here to identify with this initiative of building a skill acquisition centre for our teeming youths in Oguta Ameshi, Orlu Senatorial District and the neighboring town and communities.
“This is a cutting edge initiative, being powered by this age grade that has done lots of things for the community. They have painstakingly chosen the right trade–vocational and skill acquisition programmes for the youths.
“This is something that after you have been trained and mentored, you can start up on your own and you will even be employable and people will look for you. It’s not something that you will begin to look for government to give you job before you begin to feed yourself. It’s something that you can start up on your own with little capital.”
He urged the youths of the area avail themselves of the opportunity saying “it may not come again. I advise that they should embrace it and run with it and they won’t regret it.” said Nwakuche
