Wema Bank, in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President, has concluded arrangements to start an initiative that will impact 2 million youths and 1 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across the country.
A statement yesterday in Abuja by the Director of Information in the Vice President’s office, Mr Olusola Abiola, said the collaboration is in furtherance of President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s drive to boost job creation.
Vice President Kashim Shettima, who received an update report on the programme yesterday when he hosted the bank’s Managing Director Moruf Oseni, lauded Wema Bank’s commitment and partnership for the initiative.
The delegation was at the Villa to brief the Vice President on the progress made in the implementation of the FGN-ALAT Digital Skill-Novation Programme – an initiative of a partnership between the Federal Government and WEMA Bank to train 2 million youths and empower 1 million MSMEs across Nigeria.
Speaking on the support and commitment of the bank in the execution of the initiative, Shettima said: “I will call on you to be above board. You are a good organisation. I want to thank you most sincerely for your initiative and commitment. Rest assured that we will fulfil our own part of the bargain”.
Addressing State House correspondents after the parley, Oseni said he and his team were at the Villa to brief the Vice President on “how far we have gone on the FGN/ALAT project”.
He added: “The Vice President was very happy. Shortly, you will hear from his office on how we want to progress with this programme. Part of this is to help create innovation hubs across the country for us.
“Mr President came out with a very bold and audacious plan on how to revive the Nigerian economy. The banks are key players and we will put in our best to actualise this. If Nigeria does well, the financial institutions will do well.
“Mr President is 100 per cent on track, and we are totally in support of his administration”.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation and MSMEs, Mr. Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, stressed the need for collaboration.
He said: “There is power in partnership. The private sector and the public sector coming together can always do more for the people. Mr President’s Renewed Hope agenda cannot be achieved by the government or the private sector alone as it requires all hands on deck.
“So, we dug deep into the private sector to see how they can actually play their role. In the first instance, they agreed to partner with us on skills acquisition and in other aspects of the scheme that we plan to implement.”
Also present at the meeting were Mr Tunde Mabawonko (Executive Director, Wema Bank), Mr. Bamidele Adefemi (Head of Federal Public Sector), and Mr. Chioma Onuaguluchi (Regional Executive, Abuja).
“Young entrepreneurs programme through a self-paced Online Digital Academy for Entrepreneurs, in collaboration with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN). Through this programme, over 500 entrepreneurs were trained within a year.”
The Coordinator of The African Youth Internet Governance Forum (AfYIGF) Multi-Stakeholder Advisory group, Lillian Nlawoga, said the continent is home to a young and vibrant population with an estimated 60 per cent of it being under the age of 25.
She noted that “despite this, the continent is still lagging behind in terms of internet access, with only 28 per cent of the population has access to the internet”.
