The Ministry Of Youth Development Anambra continued Revalidation Exercise for Business Owners and Training Institutes that applied to serve as training centers in the second batch of 1Youth2Skills Programme over the weekend.
The aim of the revalidation was to ensure that all Communities in the State are fully represented with Trainers in the Second Batch of 1Youth2Skills Solution.
It may be recalled that the Main Exercise took place from Monday 24th June, to Thursday 27th June 2024.
The whole exercise will be used to assess the current status of 2000 training centers, that were successful in the first phase of the screening exercise conducted in November 2023 for over 8000 training centers that applied. The Revalidation focuses on the areas of existing equipment, size of facility, application of digital technology and level of experience in business management as well as training.
The Commissioner For Youth Development Mr. Patrick Agha Mba stated that the key objective of the exercise was to ensure that the centers where the youths of Anambra State would be trained are of the highest standard in line with the policy direction of Prof. Soludo Administration.
Mr. Agha Mba commended The Governor of Anambra State Professor Chukwuma Soludo, who he described as youth friendly for approving the Second Batch of 1Youth2Skills Solution. He reported that the second phase of 1Youth2Skills Programme will be coming with a lot of innovations, which include the retraining and certification of Master Trainers by a recognized and reputable agency as a means of ensuring that the quality assurance emphasis of Mr. Governor on the standard of training is achieved.
Mr. Agha Mba also reported that the retraining and certification will be free of charge for the selected Master Trainers as the Governor has approved that the Government of Anambra State would bear the cost.
Meanwhile, other innovations to the programme according to the Commissioner are the Youths To Agriculture Scheme (YTAS), Anawood Scheme, use of GPS Coordinate in project monitoring, Online Entrepreneurship Programme and application of digital technology in data management. He stated that the second phase of the programme will also witness the empowerment of 10,000 Anambra youths in the Apprenticeship, Entrepreneurship, Business Financing and Mentorship Schemes of the programme – a 100% improvement on the previous phase.
The Commissioner expressed his delight that the beneficiaries of the first batch of 1Youth2Skills Programme are already doing very well based on Impact Assessment conducted independently by the Ministry and Strategy Evaluation and Execution (SEE). He stated that the beneficiaries had also organized themselves under Solution Youth-Preneurs Support Group (SYPSG) to assist Mr. Governor in actualizing the goal of every Anambra youth having a minimum of two skills in line with the Anambra Vision 2070 Framework and the People’s Manifesto.
It could be recalled that the government of Anambra State in October 2023 empowered 5,000 youths with N2billion Grant for Equipment Financing in the first batch of 1Youth2Skills Solution. As part of the 1Youth2Skills Business Financing Scheme, the government also made provision for N2.5billion to be assessed as Working Capital by the beneficiaries from Anambra Small Business Agency (ASBA) through 1Youth2Skills Cooperatives.
The event, which was held at the ASATU Hall Government House, Awka was attended by the key management team of the Ministry, the Special Assistant To The Governor On Youth Development, Engr. Emeka Tony Omatah, Executive Assistant To The Governor On Youth, Hon. Chibuzor Udeh, as well as Prince Godspower Olotta and Leonard Nwadike, who are business development consultants and members of 1Youth2Skills Technical Committee.
