Determined to eradicate the scourge of unemployment
currently ravaging the country, Fidelity Bank Plc, one of the nation’s highly
diversified lender, in strategic partnership with Gazelle Academy and
University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), has empowered 300 Nigerian youths with
top-of-the-line entrepreneurial skills. The programme, which is part of the
Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, is targeted at
creating a new breed of entrepreneurs amongst Nigeria’s boisterous youth population.
Speaking at the launch of the 5-day youth empowerment
programme held at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nnamdi Okonkwo, the Bank’s
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, said the programme seeks to empower
the university community by creating thriving business owners amongst students.
Reiterating the lender’s commitment to continually equip Nigerian youths
with requisite skills needed to make them self-reliant, Okonkwo declared that
Nigerian youths have been denied opportunities to develop in diverse realms of
human endeavours.
“In a national survey jointly sponsored by the National
Universities Commission (NUC) and the Education Trust Fund (ETF), about 61
percent of 20 organisations rated graduates poor in skills needed in the work
environment such as literacy, entrepreneurship, analytical, problem-solving and
decision-making skills”, he explained. Commenting on the scope of the
programme, Okonkwo said that the students were trained on tailoring and
make-up, explaining that the exercise provided students with knowledge and
first-hand experience on the above-mentioned skills.
Okonkwo, who was represented by Leonard Ezugwu, head,
Anambra-Enugu-Ebonyi Regional Bank, Fidelity Bank Plc, said, “Nigerian youths
are only exposed to Theoretical Education without…practical entrepreneurship,
vocational and skill acquisition trainings.” As a leading financial institution
with a proven track record of service excellence and integrity, Okonkwo
reiterated the lender’s commitment to create a veritable platform for building
an entrepreneurial spirit in the nation’s teeming undergraduates. “We want to
create a positive mind-set among them, shifting them ‘from paid-labour
mentality to business owners and employers’”, he noted.
In a conscious attempt to ensure that undergraduates utilise
the skills and experiences garnered at the youth empowerment workshop, Okonkwo
pointed out that Fidelity Bank provided students with sewing machines, pressing
irons and make-up kits. Speaking in the same vein, Her Excellency, The Wife of
the Executive Governor of Enugu State, Mrs Monica Ugo Ugwuanyi applauded the
Bank for investing in youth empowerment. According to her, the youths are
agents of the future, urging other private organisations to take a cue from
Fidelity.
Top government functionaries, captains of industry, media
practitioners and the academia all converged on the UNN Campus to witness the
birth of this all-important youth empowerment programme. The Vice-Chancellor
represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) of Academics, UNN, Professor
James; Founder, Gazelle Academy, Muna Uzo and Chairman/Managing Director, Ben
TV, Alistair Soyode were some of the dignitaries at the event.
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