FG, Wema Bank to Train Two Million Youths on Digital Skills

•Shettima hails initiative to further empower one million SMEs

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Sequel to its pledge to support the job creation agenda of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, Wema Bank in partnership with the Office of the Vice President, has finalised plan to commence an initiative that would impact two million youths and one million micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) across the country.

Vice President Kashim Shettima, who received an update report on the programme at the State House, Abuja, yesterday, during a courtesy visit by the Managing Director of Wema Bank, Mr. Moruf Oseni, lauded the commitment and partnership of the bank for the initiative.

The team 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 two million youths and empower one million MSMEs across Nigeria.

Speaking on the support and commitment of the bank in the execution of the initiative, the 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, be rest assured that we will fulfill our own part of the bargain.”

Speaking later in an interview with newsmen, MD of Wema Bank said they were at the State House to brief the vice president on, “how far we have gone on the FGN/ALAT project. Vice President was very happy, and shortly you will hear from his office of how we want to progress with this programme, part of this is to help create innovation hubs across the country for us.”

According to Oseni: “Mr. President came out with a very bold and audacious plan on how to revive the Nigerian economy. The banks are a key player 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.”

On his part, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation and MSMEs, Temitope Adekunle-Johnson, emphasised the significance of collaboration, noting that, “there is power in partnership. 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 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 own 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.”

The FGN/ALAT Digital Skill-Novation Programme would be formally launched by the vice president on September 29, at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja.