In line with Governor Seyi Makinde’s agenda to create a bright future for the students in Oyo State, the state government in partnership with Zee Africa, Code Garage and 386 Konsult have trained 1000 students on coding and non-coding technical skills.
Also trained along with the students were 22 teachers to ensure continuity of the initiative in their various schools.
The trainees according to the organizers were drawn from different secondary schools across 11 local government areas in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State.
Speaking at the grand finale of the five days training programme held at International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan on Friday, the Executive Assistant to the Governor on Administration, Reverend Idowu Ogedengbe, disclosed that the programme is another avenue to expose the students in the state to careers in technology.
Rev. Ogedengbe said the initiative will create a bright future for the students by making the young people to be tech literate and become entrepreneurs.
According to him, “this initiative is in line with what we have been doing and the Executive Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde. The governor is fully committed to ensure that our young ones are properly groomed. He has demonstrated again that he has heart for the young people in order for them to have a bright future through coding and non- coding skills.
“Just as we started with the Agribusiness initiative, we also want to start early with the technological space. The minds of our young people are very impressionable and they learn very fast. I am quite impressed by what they have been able to do within the 4 days of the event. Some of the people have been able to code, develop website and create front-end page.
“We are happy and hope to continue that in a short while all our young people will be tech literate. This will make them to become entrepreneurs and not make them to wait for somebody to give them job. From here, they can start making dollars with this tech skills.”
While charging the students to build on what they have learned, Rev. Ogedengbe urged the private and corporate organizations to partners with the state government to develop the initiative, saying that it is beyond what the government alone can fund.
“My message to the students is that they should start thinking of what they want to bring out of this opportunity and build on it.
“I want to appreciate our partners, Code Garage, Zee Africa and 386
Konsult for coming to Ibadan to carry out this initiative. This is not going to be the end and we are appealing to our private and corporate organizations that the government cannot fund all this initiative.”
The Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Zee Africa, David Adeleke, said that the purpose of collaborating with Oyo State government is to give back to the society.
He said part of the objectives of the initiative is to reduce the rate of cybercrimes and to build the tech entrepreneurs and to expose them to think far and wide.
Adeleke said the trainings were divided into three segments to be able to train the trainees on user experience journey, to build the flow of platform and infrastructures.
“We collaborated and thought of giving back to the society by partnering with the government to be able to train 1000 secondary students on coding and non coding technical skills. I am impressed by the presentations by some of the students on what they have learnt. I see this as a green light in building the leaders of tomorrow especially in the tech field.
“We are able to break it down into three different parts, the first is the UI/Ux and the second is front end while the third aspect is the back end training. We segmented the auditorium and had presentations from different students representing each different class. The UI/UX was used to teach the students user experience journey while the front-end deal with the flow of a platform is being built and the back end deal with how a infrastructure is built.
“With these tech skills, the goal is to build the next Marc Zuckerberg, tech entrepreneurs and to expose them to think far and wide. The training is a rudiment and they are expected to build on what they have learnt. Also, the goal of this initiative is targeted at reducing cyber crimes in the society and make them to live a responsible life.
In his own assessment, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on ICT, Bayo Akande, described the programme a good and laudable one, deserving of incorporating into the school curriculum.
“It is a good initiative, as we all know that the world revolves round technology and programming. It is very valuable to teach the younger ones coding at this stage just as other advanced nations are doing. I commend the organizers and the Oyo State government for this initiative.
“The long-term goal is to capture more students and even possibly put it into the school curriculum. The governor is interested in its continuity and few years ago, we did Oracle academy where we trained all ICT teachers on programming. We are sure that we will expand on it.”
Sanusi Iqmat, a student from Wesley College of Science, Elekuro, who spoke on behalf of others, appreciated Governor Seyi Makinde for approving the initiative, saying that technology is a future of Ibadan, Oyo State and Nigeria as a whole.
She described the programme as an eye opener for them, and evident that education does not stop in the classrooms.
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