The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), in partnership with VFS Global, has trained 100 young Nigerians in artificial intelligence (AI) to equip them with market-ready skills and reduce unemployment.
Speaking at the graduation and prize-giving ceremony in Lagos, the Director-General of NECA, Mr Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said the initiative formed part of the association’s employability project.
She said that the project prepares young Nigerians with skills relevant to labour market demands.
Oyerinde said the AI training complemented the ongoing NECA-Industrial Training Fund (ITF) Technical Skills Development Project.
He said participants developed four market-ready AI solutions during the programme.
“It is part of our employability project of equipping young Nigerians with relevant market-ready skills.
“Beyond what we are currently doing with the ITF in technical skills development, one of our member companies, VFS Global, partnered with us to train 100 young Nigerians in artificial intelligence.
“They came up with ideas and built projects that we are going to refine and probably take to the next level. For us, it is a continuation of our commitment to building not just skills, but relevant and market-ready skills,” the director-general said.
Oyerinde said the next phase of the programme would focus on refining the projects developed by the graduates and exposing them to potential users and investors.
He said the participants would present their innovations at the TLSP Stakeholders’ Engagement scheduled to hold in Abuja later in the year.
“They have built four different market-ready projects. What we are going to do now is get them to refine those products.
“By the end of the year, during the TLSP Stakeholders’ Engagement in Abuja, they will present the products to the market.
“The projects include passport identification solutions, passport photograph applications relevant to visa processing, and optical number plate recognition systems useful for security in estates and businesses,” he said.
The NECA director-general said the objective was to enable participants to become entrepreneurs rather than depend on the job market for employment.
“The products they have developed and the skills they have acquired should enable them to establish businesses of their own and become critical stakeholders in Nigeria’s industrialisation ecosystem.
“It is a direct intervention to address unemployment. With what they have created, the stipends they received and the laptops we provided, we have positioned them not only to become entrepreneurs but also employers of labour.
“Our goal is to strategically reduce unemployment significantly in this country,” he said.
Oyerinde said the AI training marked the first collaboration between NECA and VFS Global, adding that the company had committed to sustaining the partnership through future editions of the programme.
The best graduating student received N500,000, while the second and third positions received N300,000 and N200,000 respectively.
Each of the outstanding graduates received a laptop, while the graduates were promised internship opportunities with VFS Global.
Also, the Chairman of Ikeja Local Government, Mr Akeem Dauda, called for stronger collaboration between government and the private sector to expand skills development programmes for young Nigerians.
Dauda, whose council partnered with NECA for the programme, said some beneficiaries of the AI training were from the local government area.
“We understand the challenges facing our youths. One way to engage them is through AI and similar programmes.
“I want to thank VFS Global for training almost 100 young Nigerians, and I call on more organisations to partner with government in supporting our youths so that unemployment can be reduced,” he said.
The chairman said his administration had also enrolled more than 50 secondary school students in its holiday job scheme in partnership with NECA.
According to him, the students will receive stipends during the two-month holiday programme.
He added that the council was strengthening vocational skills acquisition through its vocational centre, which currently has more than 50 trainees.
“We are investing a lot in our youths because they are the future, and we have no choice but to continue supporting them,” Dauda said.
