Committed to creating more opportunities for Edo youths to tap from Nigeria’s booming tech ecosystem for self-reliance, Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki is subsidising the training of youths in in-demand tech fields, such as Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Machine Learning.
The six-week training programmes are being run by Curators University and held at the Edo Innovation Hub, Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), Wire Road, Benin City. At the last count, over 250 youths have been trained in the programme, which is also partly funded by Microsoft.
The programme, open for undergraduates and graduates, is being subsidised through EdoJobs, the state’s skills development and job creation platform.
Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Jobs Creation and Skills Development, Mrs. Ukinebo Dare, said the gesture is part of the governor’s promise to create at least 200,000 jobs in the state before 2020, and noted that up to 90,000 jobs have, so, far, been created.
She said: “Students in the programme get to learn Python and R programming languages and are encouraged to continue with advanced level work at the end of the 6-week training.
“By the fourth week, they are able to tackle real-life problems in data science and machine learning and are ready for the workplace.”