By Oguwike Nwachuku
I have watched and listened to some rabble-rousers display crass ignorance over the intention of Governor Hope Uzodimma to negotiate jobs for 4000 Imo youths outside Nigeria.
The truth is that Governor Uzodimma will always be sure of himself no matter the circumstances he may find himself.
Yes, when recently he received thousands of Imo youths who paid him a courtesy call at Government House, Governor Uzodimma rapped them on how a good number of them are potential Diasporans because of the digital skills they have acquired and started acquiring.
The Governor predicted that no fewer than 4000 of them are potential employees in Europe based on the digital skills they have acquired at home that are in hot demand outside Nigeria.
Mind you, the government has a well thought out agenda to train 300,000 Imo youths on digital skills over a period of the years and as we speak, 20,000 of them have benefited from the different training programmes and are ready to put such skills they have acquired to use.
While the youths were undergoing trainings under the Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 Skill-Up Imo Project, technology-based companies were systematically pouching some of them for employment. Cisco, for instance, is one the many tech frims seeking to employ the youths trained under the Skill-Up Imo Project. There are also Nigerian companies with huge affiliation with such global tech frims.
As Governor Uzodimma was busy graduating 15,000 youths under the Cohort 2 Skill-Up Imo Project on Wednesday, September 27, he assured that the Cohort 3 will commence immediately and will involve the training of 40,000 youths.
Therefore, what is 4000 youths being assisted to be gainfully employed in Europe, Asia and America when 60,000 of them are hopeful?
Methinks Governor Uzodimma should be congratulated for the bold step he has taken to pull Imo youths out of the pit of poverty, ignorance and unemployment.
Which one is better: youths who Japa or stow away to foreign lands in search of jobs they may not get or the ones whose jobs are properly negotiated? Those who think that the Governor is outsourcing the Imo youths also miss the point and need to be helped in their ignorance because the world has become one small village in our hands due to the invincibility of technology.
If what Governor Uzodimma intends to do for the Imo youths is novel to many, I invite them to pause and ask themselves whether China, India and most Asian and Middle Eastern countries have not done similar things before and still doing them now.
Who says that blacks, this time Imo youths with skills, do not have a place in global market and development outside Nigeria? Why are we constantly wearing the garb of inferiority whenever the issue of foreign relationship is in the front burner of discourse? By the way, don't we already have Nigerians in their numbers working in Europe, Asia and America? So what will change if Governor Uzodimma finds jobs for 4000 Imo youths or even more, depending on how wide his national and international contact is?
Those who think Governor Uzodimma made the pledge to play politics should close their faces in shame. They ought to think again.
In 2021 when he gifted 25,000 Imo youths N250,000 each to start businesses he was categorical that the intention was to pull them out of poverty and to also help raise an army of millionaires and billionaires among them. He has remained consistent in that believe emboldened by the ongoing training on digital skills.
It is because of the greed and selfishness of the leaders who sponsor Governor Uzodimma's crticism on social media that makes it look like getting travel documents for 4000 youths and paying for their living expenses will take a leg and an arm. They think it is too much money. Frankly, it should not be to any leader who has the interest of the people he is leading at heart, like Governor Uzodimma.
Who does not know that our Governor thinks big, dreams big, acts big and achieves big?
Lest we forget, recently when some Christian States in Nigeria were busy rationing the people they wanted to send on Pilgrimage to Israel, Governor Uzodimma shocked every one by announcing free sponsorship of 1000 intending pilgrims. It has never happened before. That is Governor Uzodimma for you.
Was it only Christians he sponsored on Pilgrimage? He also sponsored Muslims who went to Mecca for hajj.
I am not under any illusion that 4000 Imo youths will benefit from what the Governor had already pronounced. Mine is to congratulate the lucky ones in advance and pray that there will be more beneficiaries going forward as more youths are equipped with the relevant skills to confront their future.
Let those who see politics in everything Governor Uzodimma does keep deceiving themselves. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for us, the Governor's re-election has become a fait accompli. Ihe Chukwu dere, odewo ya ( what God is written is written).
... Nwachuku, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Uzodimma writes from Owerri.
