The flag off ceremony for the solar farm training program for Lagos State youths took place on Friday, August 13, 2021 with senior government officials in attendance.
The program, facilitated by the International Information Technology and Application Institute, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America in collaboration with the Lagos State Government through its Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, is designed to train about 6,000 individuals to become globally certified solar technicians.
Those that go through the training successfully would become empowered with tools and resources to become self-employed solar power providers to help solve the country’s nagging electricity power problem.
Designed by the founder of the Institute, Professor Tokunbo Onabanjo and faculty member, Dr. Kazeem Bello, both Diaspora professionals, the pilot program with 280 youths was flagged off officially by Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, represented by the Commissioner, Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Yetunde Arobieke.
Chairman/CEO of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa and her team as well as other dignitaries were present at the ceremony.
The governor said the government embraced the program because of the advantages of provision of jobs and power. The Commissioner, who represented him at the event also announced several incentives for the participants including supply of tools and payment of stipends to cover transportation and data for effective learning.
Hon. Dabiri-Erewa thanked the Governor and the Ministry for sponsoring the program and commended Prof. Onabanjo and Dr. Kazeem for the initiative, re-emphasizing her frequent calls on Nigerians in the Diaspora to hasten to contribute positively to the development of the country.
Prof. Onabanjo stressed that the need to provide jobs and assist with power generation were major reasons for initiating the program and commended the governor for buying into the initiative.
He gave an overview of the curriculum and urged the trainees to work hard to obtain the US Standard Certification that will allow them to practice anywhere in the world as Solar Power Technicians.
Dr. Bello, in his remarks, gave some statistics of global trends in solar power development as alternative source of energy and also urged the trainees to take advantage of the program.
Highlights of the event include enthusiastic feed backs from the trainees and distribution of some equipment to all the 280 trainees sponsored by the state government.
Pictures here show some of those in attendance at the program.
