Ibusa: Gloria Onyekachi Charges Women, Youths To Embrace Skills Acquisition

By Ike Abiagom

The President, Gloria Okonkwo Onyekachi Foundation (GOOF), Mrs. Gloria Okonkwo Onyekachi, has called on Ibusa women to embrace skill acquisition.

Mrs. Onyekachi who made the call at the weekend in Ibusa during a skill acquisition awareness programme tagged: “Our Women Need a Skill,” also charged youths to embrace skill acquisition so as to curb unemployment and create more entrepreneurs.
Mrs. Onyekachi, represented by Bishop Chiendu James, the General Overseer, End Time Reconciliation Ministry, said that the Gloria Okonkwo Onyekachi Foundation was desirous of reducing youth unemployment through youths empowerment and job creation, stressing that this is why they have embarked on skills acquisition sensitization in the various quarters across the town in curbing criminality and creating entrepreneurs.

She added: “We will continue to support skills acquisition programme to reduce unemployment; we will also provide starter packs to graduating students to enable them start their enterprise.”
She applauded the organizers for the sensitisation programme and reiterated the commitment of her foundation in the reduction of unemployment rate in the town, while urging the students to look beyond their certificate.

The Publisher of Newsbreeze Magazine, Comrade Ike Abiagom, who was one of the speakers, noted that the world at the moment is no longer in the era of certificate but ‘sabificate’ and having a skill will showcase them to the world and also save them from financial slavery.

He also  noted that the objectives of the entrepreneurship awareness programme was to sensitise students on the need to acquire skills while in school, saying that it was also meant to grow a new generation of entrepreneurs from among students even before graduation.

Speaking further, he said: “We are appealing to the foundation to continue this empowerment because the biggest economic challenge in Nigeria today is youth unemployment.

“Unfortunately, our current educational system has adverse effects on the mentality of the graduates that we produce; they have a job seeker’s mentality. It is my conviction that skill acquisition holds the key to solving our unemployment problem.

“Skill acquisition offers highly technical, vocational and entrepreneurial education to enable graduate youths function as wealth creators and job creators, in addition to giving them employability skills.”

The Gloria Okonkwo Onyekachi Foundation under the watch of Bishop Chiendu James is committed to reversing this trend because no meaningful national development can be achieved by any nation without sound and qualitative technical education.

The foundation strongly believes that the future lies with technical/vocational education, not certificate acquisition and that the country cannot shy away from issues of unemployment and under-employment, like any other developing country, despite determined efforts of governments at all levels.

Technical education and skill acquisition is a cardinal programme of Gloria Okonkwo Onyekachi Foundation.

They believe that until the targeted 5,000 youths acquire the requisite technical and vocational skills, they are not building a future for the youths.