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Entrepreneurship Centre Ends Skills Acquisition Training For Corps Members
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- Published: 19 September 2016
The Entrepreneurship Centre in collaboration with a Port Harcourt-based business outlet, Trans-Consulting, has ended a four-week training programme for National Youth Service Corps Members serving in Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt City and Emohua Local Government Areas of Rivers State. The one-day training programme took place on Thursday, September 8, 2016.
Declaring open the training session for the first batch of Corps Members which held in the Auditorium of the Entrepreneurship Centre at the University Park, representative of the Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Professor OkeyOnuchuku, stressed the need for the participants to acquire specific skills that would enable them set up their own businesses, while awaiting paid employment after their service year.
“You are here to make a breakthrough in entrepreneurship in line with the new expectation of society that you should strive to earn a livelihood to support yourself and your families. As things stand today, you do not need anybody to tell you that unemployment has become a major problem in our country which is reeling under the worst type of economic recession in decades. This period requires creative thinking and innovative application of entrepreneurial skills to compliment what you studied in the university. In this season of recession, only those who can adapt to the harsh economic environment will survive it, while those who may choose to continue waiting for paid employment would have to do so for a very long time with all the attendant frustration,” he told them.
Professor Onuchuku advised the Corps Members to benefit maximally from the training provided by the Entrepreneurship Centre and utilize the skills they acquired to boost their personal circumstances, including improving the country’s GDP.
Commending Trans-Consult for the partnership with the Entrepreneurship Centre to impact young people positively, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Academic matters, Professor Hakeem Fawehinmi, described the training programme as a shining example of that critical symbiotic relationship between town and gown in a mutually beneficial manner, urging the participants to make good use of the opportunity to better their lot.
“This training programme would provide you an opportunity to think out of the box and create something that would distinguish you from your colleagues who are still dreaming of securing paid employment on passing out of the NYSC programme. Acquiring requisite hands-on skills can change you from mere job seekers to employers of labour within a very short time,” Professor Fawehinmi admonished the participating Corps Members, commending the Acting Director for repositioning the Entrepreneurship Centre to achieve its mandate.
Earlier in his welcome address, Acting Director of the Centre, Dr. Williams Olori, listed the gains of the training programme for the Corps Members, noting that limitless opportunities abounded for wealth creation in other sub-sectors of the economy such as agriculture, horticulture and fish farming, amongst others.
Explaining that the resource persons and the trainings were selected to equip the Corps Members with expertise and skills in the selected areas of training, the Acting Director noted that certificates would be issued to participants at the end of the training programme as added incentive for them to practicalise what they have learned.
In their separate addresses, Managing Director of Trans-Consulting, Leo Okereke and Zonal Inspector of the NYSC for Emohua Local Government Area, Paul Amoba, commended the partnership between the University and Trans-Consult to train Corps Members to become self-reliant on their passing out of the programme. Stressing that the skills acquisition scheme was introduced by the NYSC to curb unemployment in the country, the duo noted that UniPort had a lot to offer prospective clients as an Entrepreneurial University.
The training programmes covered Cosmetics and Makeup, Catering, Bread making and Cosmetology, Close Circuit Television (CCTV) Installation and Maintenance, Fashion Design, Events Management and Computer Repair, amongst other skills taught the participants.