Regalo Hope Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, has trained over 1,000 Federal University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO students on digital footprint, cloud computing, professional positioning, communication skills, and other digital and vocational intelligence.
The training, held at the school, was organised in partnership with the FUTO Career Service Centre and included students and lecturers from various departments and faculties.
Speaking, Chinenye Onuoha, the group’s founder and Regalo Hope Foundation project director, said the training was designed to create social and economic opportunities for the participants that would help them become productive agents and successful in life.
Onuoha expressed concern over the disturbing rate of unemployed graduates, saying that “a huge number of students upon graduation are bereft of necessary skills that would enhance their employability.”
She appealed to education stakeholders and the government to prioritise regular extracurricular and vocational training for students, especially at higher institutions, to enable them to navigate the socio-economic realities after graduation.
Professor of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Director Career Service Centre at Federal University of Technology Owerri, Thaddeus Ebiringa, who gave the keynote address at the event, applauded the organisers and recommended the training to students and youths alike.
Prof. Ebiringa urged other NGO and well-meaning individuals to partner with FUTO and other institutions of learning in areas that would empower the students with further skills for brighter future life endeavours.
Speaking, Oreoluwa Abiodun, the group’s Partnership and Communications Manager, disclosed that the training was part of the foundation’s Youth Development Workshop and Digital Skills Enhancement Program (REDSEP), which began in 2019.
She said, “At Regalo Hope Foundation, our impact cuts across health, technology, and education in over 20 states in Nigeria. We have trained over 1,037,448 young people in digital training and over 625,591 in vocational training.
“We have also enrolled 719 in our scholarship program, given economic empowerment to over 33,504 beneficiaries, and carried out over 157,896 health tests in various communities in Nigeria.”
Some of the participants, including Samson Alozie, a 600-year-old student of Optometry, and Jennifer Ohazuruike, a 100-year-old student of Science and Laboratory Technology, also expressed satisfaction with the workshop and appealed to the FUTO management to provide them with more similar opportunities to empower themselves with advanced skills.
