NANS Trains Students On Entrepreneurship Skills In Ondo

Concerned about the rising number of unemployed graduates in the country, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has organised an entrepreneurship summit for students of higher institutions in Ondo State.

The students were enlightened by some entrepreneurs on how to avoid being in the labour market for so long after graduating from school.

The Chairman, NANS Joint Campus Committee (JCC), Adekanye Adeboye, stated that the summit is focusing on how to encourage students to embrace vocational skills while they are still in school.

In his keynote address on Economic Growth through Skills, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Adekanye disclosed that the summit and empowerment were sponsored by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, to ensure students are given opportunities to explore their potentials.

The summit, entitled “From Students To CEO,” with the theme “Unlocking Ondo State Students’ Potentials For Economic Growth was attended by numerous students from different tertiary institutions in the state.

Adekanye appealed to philanthropists and public office holders to emulate the Interior Minister by providing opportunities to students through the provision of working equipment and other tools to the students to check the rise in the rate of graduates in the labour market.

He said the youths are great contributors to the growth and development of the nation.

According to him, “We are important contributors to the nation’s economy, and we are appealing to them to create opportunities for students.”

Adekanye disclosed that the minister spent over N26 million on the acquisition of the equipment and tools that were distributed at the event.

The Chairman of the Organising Committee, Akindele Olalekan, said the equipment was given to those who qualified for it without discrimination.

He explained that in preparation for the summit, notice was sent to student platforms to apply for whatever they wanted to assist them in implementing their skills to generate money for themselves.

Akinyele said Tunji-Ojo wanted to ensure that the labour market does not swell up through empowering students who also have some conceptions to be able to bring them to reality. He disclosed that not all those who applied for the empowerment were chosen because their requests were outrageous.

His words: “Some students requested that the Minister should buy land and build an office for him. Some requested a brand new tricycle, but we zoomed in on those who requested equipment that were not extremely costly.

“We are distributing ovens, refrigerators, power generators, washing machines, laptop computers, among several others. This equipment and tools cost over N26 million.”