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The programme started at exactly 4:30pm, with opening prayers and recitation from the holy Qur’an by Mal. Auwal followed by introduction of the guests and the chairman’s opening remarks. In his remarks the chairman of the occasion Alh (Dr) Aminu Saleh CFR, GCON (Wamban Katagum) stated that; he persuaded CITAD Executive Director to come to Azare to give the training for the community to benefit from his knowledge and selfless effort of developing the people at the grass root level. He hoped that the beneficiaries would make proper use of the skills they acquired during the training. Wanbam Katagum also posited that as ICTs have became indispensable part of our lives, therefore, every individual inconsiderable of his status, class, area of operation should try as quick as possible to learn how to use ICTs at least, to his own personal usage.

The Guest Speaker was the Executive Director, CITAD who when took up the stage as started with telling the audience the reason behind the selection of teachers for the training saying that; if you give the training to teachers, it is as equally giving to the whole community, reason being that the teachers will impart the knowledge and skills to their students. He talked on the importance of ICTs to our daily endeavors and also questioned the various challenges facing Africa and Nigeria with respect to penetration and use of ICTS in particular, he said “Africans constitute 14% of the world population but as far as ICTs are concerned, Africa has only about 2%. He added that even within the African continent Nigeria is still far behind many countries such as South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, among other. Within the country, ICTs are concentrated largely in urban areas with three major cities accounting for about 60% of ICT related facilities in Nigeria.” He pleaded with youth and especially women to stand up and bridge the existing digital divide. He further thanks Wanbam Katagum for the support he has been given to the organization and promised that the organization will do all within its capacity to help the people of the area. When asked whether the organization will wait for government assistance and intervention for it to continue with the activities it has started, he said, “government is “motherboard” of all, therefore, her assistance was very important but when the government is not willing to assist, CITAD will not keep waiting, we will start the journey and let the government meet us on the way”

Commenting on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mal. Mu’azu Ibrahim, thanked the organization for not only training them but also sensitized them on ICTs. He said “ prior to this training there were people who we assumed were the most knowledgeable as far as computer is concern but with the coming of these facilitators from CITAD we came to know that these people have a lot to learn from that these consummate facilitators” he also pleaded with CITAD for the contribution of such programme.

High dignitaries at the occasion included Sarkin Azare, Alh. Waziri Mustapha, Alh Ibrahim Jarma (Jarman Katagum and former Comptroller General Nigerian Prison services), the Chief Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre Azare, represented by Mal Bakari Uba, The Zonal Director Katagum Zonal Education, The Dean School of Languages, COE Azare, KSA President, Malam Mustapha Chinade, Director, Legacy Computer, Kaduna and many others. The programme ended with closing prayers from Wanbam Katagum.

Earlier in the day, CITAD had conducted a sensitization lecture for students as part of its effort to ensure sensitization of all stakeholders on the use of ICTs for development. The lecture which was conducted at and for students and teachers of Islamic Orientation Secondary School, Azare, Katagum Local Government of Bauchi State started around 11:15am. After opening prayers, Mal. Isah Garba of Bauchi State CITAD Office made a précis of the significance of the programme, after which Mal. Abba Adamu, another CITAD volunteer in Bauchi State took-up the stage and talked extensively on the general concept of ICTs.

Mal. Ahmad A. Yakasai, of CITAD Head Office adopted a demonstrative method to explain the various computer components to the audience. Mal. Ahmad took a long time having interactive session with the audience to the extent that almost all the audience was not only carried along but also positively stimulated towards ICT.

CITAD Executive Director was the next after Mal. Ahmad. He also talked on the importance of ICT to the individuals and societies in general. He urged the audience to stand up and face these challenges so as to keep pace with the rapid growth of development and also benefit from the job opportunities provided by ICTs in the world today.

In his closing remarks, Mal. Muhammad Dankatagum Garba, the propitiator, Islamic Orientation schools, thanked the organization for the knowledgeable lecture, he further asserted that; “We have a piece of land, that we have been thinking of what to use it for, due to the inspiration we received from this lecture, I am please to tell this team that, we will dedicate that piece of land for the construction of our computer classes.” On the side of the students Mal. Dankatagum, said; ‘Prior to this lecture we have no computer lesson as a course of this school but In sha Allah now that we are inspired we will introduce the course.’

Prizes being displayed before presentation	Cross Section of the participants	Certificate being presented to the perticipants
From Left: Special Adviser to the Bauchi State Governor on IT, Director Bauchi State Broadcating Corporation, Exacutive Director CITAD	Cross section of visitors and participants	Prizes being given to the winners
Certificate being presented to the participants	Prize lifted by one of the winners	A participant ansewring quiz question

The Special Guest of Honor who stood in for the Alh. (Dr.) Aminu Saleh CFR, GCON Wamban Katagum was Dr. Asabe Sadiyyah Mohammed, the Deputy Provost, A.D. Rufa’i College for Legal and Islamic Studies. Other Guest at the occasion included the Special Assistant to the Governor on Information Technology, Malam Babayo Gamawa, Alh. Ibrahim Sani the News Director, Bauchi State Television Authority, the Special Assistant to Governor on Poverty Alleviation, Baba A. Shitu, that on Youth Empowerment, Alhaji Ibrahim Alaska, the representative of the Member State House of Assembly representing Azare constituency Hon. Ibrahim Adamu the representative of the Managing Director, Synergy Technology Resources Solution, Azare Mal. Abba Adamu, School of Sciences, College of Education, Azare, NUT Chairman, Katagum Zone and many others.

Eight schools from the state participated in the quiz the pioneer but remarkable quiz. The schools were Government Secondary School (GSS), Itas, Government Arabic College, Jama’are, Government College, Azare, Government Day Technical College, Jama’are, Government Technical College, Gadau, Federal Government College, Azare, Inuwa Dahiru Memorial Secondary School, Azare and Government Junior Secondary School Itas.

The programme started at around 11:00am with an opening prayer by Mal. Mohammed Auwal of Synergy Resources Azare and remarks from the Guest of Honour, Dr. Asabe Sadiyyah Mohammed. Thereafter, Mal. Ahmad Yakasai, the Quiz Master read the rules governing the quiz.

The quiz ended with three schools emerged as winners as follows: the Government Technical College, Gadau took the first position, Government College, Azare took the second position while Government Arabic College, Jama’are went with the third position. At the end of the quiz prizes were given to the winning schools, the prize for the first position was a new desktop computer donated by Alh. (Dr.) Aminu Saleh CFR, GCON Wamban Katagum and Former Secretary to the Federal Government who was also supposed to be the Guest of Honour at the occasion but could not attend due to some unavoidable reasons. The second prize was a refurbished computer donated by Hon Ibrahim Adamu, Member, Bauchi State House of Assembly won by Government College, Azare while GAC, Jama’are took a HP Printer as the third position, the teachers were not left behind in enjoying their preliminary reward at the quiz. The teacher of the school that took the first position got a HP Scanner while teachers of the second and third positions got a Wall Clock each. The best overall performing student, Salim Bashir from GTC, Gadau got a LG Television donated by Malam Abbas Mohammed, Special Assistant (Liaison Office, Abuja) to Kano State Governor while the best female student got a Tape Recorder.

At the end of the distribution of the prizes CITAD staff and the invited guests proceeded to the new CITAD Bauchi State office for official commissioning of the office situated at Central Office Building, opposite Emir’s Palace, Azare. The formal opening of the office was done by the Special Assistant to the Bauchi State Governor Mal. Babayo Gamawa who thanked CITAD fro taking the initiative and urged to collaborate with the State Government in the efforts to promote IT development in the state.

Following the opening of the office, CITAD delegation and the gusts paid a courtesy call on Alh. (Dr.) Aminu Saleh CFR, GCON Wamban Katagum to thank him for the support he has given to the organization and to wish him speedy recovery following a car accident in which he sustained some injuries. He thanked CITAD and urged to come up with a plan of action for its activities in state, now that it had formally established its presence. He also called on the State Government to make effective use of the organization to train teachers of secondary schools in the state so that computers provided to schools that were currently lying idle due to lack of instructors would b put to effective use. CITAD Executive Director who led the delegation thanked the Elder statesman for the support and contribution he has been given to CITAD and promised him that the new office would soon stare both community pubic enlightenment and training programmes  for the benefit of the citizens of the State. Also speaking that at the place, the Director of News, Bauchi State Broadcasting, Alhaji Ibrahim Sani, expressed the readiness of his organization to partner with CITAD especially in the area of public enlightenment to promote better appreciation of IT and its use in the state.

Dr. Jummai Umar-Ajibola at the opening session	Key personnel of the occasion	Cross section of participants from all the states
Y.Z Yau facilitating a session	Group photograph of participants	Permanent secretary, ministry for youth development, Ms Ana Ene Ita, presenting certificate to a participant

A DYNAMIC PARTNERSHIP

It started by thinking of adding value to the Employability Programme that Microsoft and its Nigerian partners had implemented in the last two years. Great work was being done in providing youth with skills that make them employable, and quite a number of them had gotten employment as a result or have set up their organizations. But this was only capable of reaching a tiny percentage of Nigeria’s over 60 million unemployed youth. To be able to make the greater impact, government itself has to learn what others are doing and see how it can help to replicate and expand the reach of these programmes. This was how the Public Sector Capacity Building for Youth Development Officers was born to provide training to this crop of trainers of youths on ICT-based entrepreneurship. They would go back to their training centres and mount various entrepreneurship training programmes for youth across the country, thus complementing what Microsoft partners have already been doing. The idea got the best of a dynamic partnership with Microsoft, the Federal Ministry of Youth Development, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) and the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), with each bringing something unique that assured the success of the programmes. The Ministry in addition to selecting the participants supported their stay for the training with Microsoft funding the training. While DBI provided training facilities, CITAD facilitated the programme.

The training was one of the several partnership initiatives currently being run by Microsoft. Another is the Partners in Learning under the Unlimited Potential Programme which aims to transform education, foster local innovation and create jobs and opportunities. There is also the Youth Employability Programme which Microsoft has supported through a number of NGOs including CITAD, which have trained thousands of youths in ICT and life and employability skills over the last three years in the country.

A HOPE WAS RAISED
At the opening session of the programme, held on 4th May, 2010, Dr. Jummai Umar-Ajijola explained the objectives of the programme which was to enhance the capacity of the participants in delivering cutting-edge entrepreneurship training that would with transform Nigerian resourceful youths into the successful entrepreneurs while both Prof. Raymond Akule, the President of the DBI and Y. Z. Ya’u of CITAD spoke on the training methodology and content of the programme respectively. By the time the representative of the Minister, Mrs. Rabi Jimeta, Director Education and Youth Development spoke, it was clear that the seed of hope had been sown for something great to come of out of the unique experience. Drawing participants from all the 36 states (plus FCT) across the country, in addition to heads of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development centres and the staff of the departments for education and youth development of the ministry, the over 100 participants ensured that the impact of the programme was going to be felt across all parts of the country.

AN EXCITING PACKAGE AND FACILITATION
The training content was carefully part up to achieve the objectives of the programme. It combined four complementary modules, Entrepreneurial skills kits (that was delivered in a participatory manner), deepening of ICT skills among the participants (so that they could be able to appreciate the various skill sets that are needed in the economy and society today), a detailed examination of various types of small scale ICT businesses along with their requirements, support tools for youth entrepreneurs, including mentoring and incubator schemes as well as ICTs for small scale enterprises and training methodology to upscale their skills as trainers in running efficient training programmes. The participatory and experiential learning approach adopted by CITAD enabled not only great enthusiasm by the participants but also effective realization of the goal of the programme. With the excellent training facilities of the DBI, in the end as the Master of Ceremony of the closing ceremony affirmed, “Here was a great experience for all the participants”.

The curriculum focuses on ICT entrepreneurship, ICT businesses, setting and running of small scale enterprises, finance and procurement, sales and marketing, e-Mentoring, and ICT for small scale enterprises among others.

High ranking instructors were drawn from CITAD and they include Y. Z. Ya’u, Executive Director of CITAD and Secetrary General of ITAN, Mr. Rima Shawulu, an IT entrepreneur, Ahmed A. Yakasai, Enigneer Kamal Umar, Umar Farouq Uthman, a beneficiairy of DFID supported youth mentorship programme, and Isyaku Garba.

Y. Z. Ya’u introduced the class first to the prospects of ICT-based enterprises in Nigeria. He enumerated the various factors accelerating the demands of ICT goods and services in the country which could only be met by getting people to establish ICT-based enterprises.

Rima Shawulu facilitated the module on ICT-based businesses, taking the participants through various types of small scale IT business. In doing this, he also identified the requirements and the processes for setting up these businesses.

The module on Small Scale entrepreneurship was facilitated by Y. Z. Ya’u, taking the participants in a participatory manner through topics such as developing business idea, translating this idea into a business through developing a business plan, determination of business set up needs, sources of support, managing the business, communication and financial management, etc.

The module on ICTs for small scale business focused on how young entrepreneurs could use ICTs in setting up and running their enterprises, using for financial management, administration, communication, marketing and business promotion. This was taken by Isyaku Garba.

Engineer Kamal Umar and Umar Farouq Uthman took the participants through various IT skills such as advanced internet uses, digital editing, virtual office space, etc so as to deepen the appreciation of the participants of the various skill sets needed for the new IT-based businesses.

Trainees also had opportunity to peruse the functions and workings of business and ICT regulatory agencies such as SMEDAN, NITDA, NCC and CPN to enable them know the specific requirements for setting up small scale enterprises in the sector.

Explaining the motivation for the programme, Dr. Jummai Umar-Ajijola, Citizenship Manager, Microsoft Anglophone West Africa said, “Nigerian youths have the potential to perform at optimum capacity but for a number of factors which include lack of proficiency. With the right skills that this capacity training will afford participants, we are confident that they would be able to effectively deploy work tools that will enhance their performance.” She enjoined participants to make the best use of the opportunity.

RAISING THE CURTAINS
The 2-week programme was rounded up with a colourful closing ceremony on the 13th May, 2010, at which the Minister of Youth Development, Senator Akilabi Olasunkanmi, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Ms. Ann Ene Ita distribution certificates to the participants. The Minister applauded the role Microsoft was playing in helping to address youth unemployment in the country and thanked it for the support it gave for the Public Sector capacity building programme which the ministry was a gracious beneficiary.

TAKING OVER AND TAKING ACTION
Following the training, the Minister said that the ministry has become more resolved and committed about its decision to embrace a digital philosophy in addressing youth problems in the country. Consequent upon this, he announced that the ministry would be re-tooling and equipping its zonal training centres to provide entrepreneurial training for youth with special emphasis on ICTs. It will also be launching an e-mentoring scheme to provide the trained youths with guidance and counseling on setting up and running their businesses. The Ministry has also given indication that it would replicate the training in all the six zones of the country to further expand the availability of trainers to enable it reach large number of youth in its youth entrepreneurship training programmes.

Buoyed by the discussions over e-mentoring scheme during the training, CITAD itself has just concluded plan to launch an e-mentoring scheme to support it youth entrepreneurship training programmes. Participants were also not left behind in making immediate plan for the use of the knowledge and skills they had acquired. Ms Helen Teghtegh, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Beneu State insisted on CITAD providing her an immediate mentor to put her through setting up a website development business, to which Rima Shawulu, one of the facilitators graciously volunteered to do. Atim E. Etim from Akwa Ibom State left the venue straight to purchase her laptop which she thinks would now become her daily companion.

SKY IN NO LIMIT
With technology and the appropriate skills and support, the sky is no longer a barrier to what people can do in transforming their lives and their communities towards greater prosperity. This was demonstrated by the partnership around Microsoft and CITAD. The training has unleashing a torrent of creativity and released the potentialities of the participants in taking the destiny of the nation and their own in their hands to promote entrepreneurship thereby reducing the problem of unemployment in the country.

TESTIMONIES

I discovered unending entrepreneurship opportunities that are awaiting anyone with ICT skill: website development, designing software, consultancy services, opening business centre, ICT accessory shops, ICT café, repairs shops, to mention the least. Your skills, a laptop, and the world is your!

-Helen Teghtegh, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Beneu State

I have learnt how to open cyber café, set up and run a small scale business and connecting with international business to leverage other business opportunity. I have learnt how to trainer others through the model on trainer IT trainers.

-Mustapha Ibrahim Yakasai, Directorate of Youth Development, Kano

The workshop was indeed educative, informative as well as entertaining. It really enhanced our capacity in the use of ICT tools which would have tremendous impact on the vast majority of youths nationwide.

-Adamu Sa’ad, YDO, Nassarawa State

I wish to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to you for your wonderful and educative lectures. May you go from strength to strength, amen.
-Ajayi Tunde. Ministry pf Youth, Osun State

I learnt how to form and run IT-based business as empowerment to youths. The faculty were excellent and the materials super.

-Sani Abdullahi , Ministry of Youth Development , Zamfara State

I learnt how to set up a cybercafé as a young entrepreneur, initial steps, what I need to succeed. I also learnt how to browse the internet which I did not know before and most of all, as a staff of the Ministry of Youth Development I learned how to prepare salary voucher successfully and easily.
-Atim Ekeng Etim, Ministry of Youth Development, Akwa Ibom

After the preliminary round at the 3rd Jigawa ICT which held on 3rd February 3rd, 2010, the 8th Annual ICT for secondary schools students by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) held on 19th and 20th February, 2010. The occasion which held at the Auditorium of School of Technology, Kano State Polytechnic, Kano brought students from 28 schools to showcase their knowledge and skill on ICTs. The states were Bauchi, Jigawa, Kano and Katsina. The objectives of the Quiz were to sensitize the school communities to the need for computers, encourage students to take computer studies seriously and aid advocacy on the need for school proprietors and governments to provide computers to schools.

The opening session was chaired by Prof. A. M. Jega, the Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano who in his opening remarks reminded the students of the importance of ICT in their future career. The Guest speaker for the opening round, Dr. Kole Ahmed Shettima of MacArthur Foundation spoke on the topic Role of ICT in Career Development and Advancement. He discussed the various uses of ICTs in the education sector, and how students could take the opportunities ICTs offer to advance their learning and career. As a political scientist, and director of a development foundation, Dr. Shettima also took time to discuss the uses of ICTs in advancing human rights and in promoting good governance.

What Dr. Shittima said was further amplified by one of the Guests, Alhaji Muhammad Idris, the Executive Secretary of the Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board who recalled his experience way back in the early 1980s when he was a graduate student in the USA in a university which had by the time introduced a regulation that required all prospective graduate students be computer literate for its graduate programmes. While our universities are yet to add such requirement, already the National Information Technology Policy of the country has provided that any person desiring a job in the federal civil service must be computer literate. It is not clear if this is being complied with, but it is obvious that it has become obvious that no one needs to be told that in the emerging information society, computer skills are simple indispensable.

Among the other guests at the occasion were Hon. Abdullahi Dawaki, the Chairman Committee, on Education, Kano State House of Assembly, the Director General of the Social Reorientation Directorate, representatives of Intersystem Computers Limited, and Mr. Rotimi, the Business Manager, HIIT PLC, Kano.

After the addresses, the first round of the competition featured six schools, at the end of which the three best schools qualified for the semifinal round. A second round of another schools also featured with three more schools advancing to the next round.

The afternoon session saw the Vice Chancellor of the Kano State University of Science and Technology as the Chairman of the session. Unlike in the morning session there was no lecture but a presentation of the Hausa film, Naura, produced by CITAD to raise awareness about ICTs. Acted by young people and children, the students found the film speaking directly to them. During this second, 16 schools competed in two groups and eight schools, four from each of the two groups joined the six that qualified in the morning for the next round of the competition

The final day of the quiz started with a guest lecture by the President of the Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), Mr. Ibrahim Tizhe who was represented by Mr. Kayode Shobajo, Managing Director, Hands-on Institute of Information Technology (HIIT), Lagos and Council Member of the CPN. He dwelled on the importance of ICTs to the economic development of the country, and especially on how the country can use ICTs in achieving the MDGs as well as propelling the national vision 202020 that hopes to see Nigeria among the top 20 economies of the world.

The session was chaired by Prof. Umar. G. Danbatta, Vice President of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), a special telecommunication training institute set up by the Nigeria Communications Commissioner (NCC) to provide higher level manpower to telecommunication industry in the country. The Guest of Honour, Dr. Bashir S. Galadanci, the Kano State Commissioner for Science and Technology, spoke on state’ effort to use ICTs as a means to enhance the economic development of the State said that there were huge career opportunities in the ICT sector for our young people who opt for a career in the sector. he briefed the audience on the progress of the state government’s ICT flagship project, the Kano ICT Park which was about to be completed and opened for business.

For the competition, the fourteen schools that reached the semifinal, they were grouped into two, seven schools in each group. Each group competed amongst themselves. After the two rounds, the following schools advanced to the final. From group 1 we had xxxx, xxx and xx. Those that qualified from group 2 were xx. These schools next moved to the final round. By the end of the run the first and second winners emerged which were Government Science College, Dawaki Kudu and Government Technical College, Kano. For the third place position there was tie between Government Arabic College, Jama’are, Bauchi State and Computer Girls Secondary School, Roni, Jigawa State. Given the way in which all the schools performed, the Chief Judge of the Competition, Dr. Lukman Diso of the Department of Library and Information Science, Bayero University, Kano after consulting with the Chairman and the organizers announced that rather than go for the tie breaker, the two schools were taken as joint winners and that the third place prize was going to be duplicated. The duplication offer came from the Chairman of the session, Prof. U. G. Danbatta. This brought the contest to the end.

After the exciting competition it was time to present the prizes to the winners. Quiz chief judge Dr. Lukman Diso announced the names of the various winners. The prize distribution came first with the third place position whose prize-copier donated by Alhaji Isa Ahmed, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Kano State and Prof. U. G. Danbatta, Vice President, Digital Bridge Institute to Government Arabic College, Jama’are Bauchi State and Computer Girls Secondary School, Roni Jigawa State respectively. The prizes were presented to them by Alhaji Abdullahi Nashe of Mediwat Computer School and Alhaji Salisu Abdullahi, Senior Special Assistant to the Kano State Governor on ICT respectively. The second place prize which was a desktop computer donated by the Alhaji Gambo Ado, Director-General, Directorate for Youth Development, Kano was presented to the team of Government Technical College, Kano by Prof. U. G. Danbatta, Vice President Digital Bridge Institute, who incidentally was an old student of the school. The first place prize of a laptop donated by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Kano State was coincidentally presented to the team of Government Science College Dwakin Tofa by the Dr. Bashir S. Galadanci, the Commissioner of the Ministry

The next set of prizes was the individual prizes. These include the prizes for teachers of the two-runner up schools which were wall clocks. The prize for the teacher of the winning school was a printer donated by Alhaji Abdullahi Nashe of Mediwat Computer School presented to Malam Aminu U Giwa of Government Science College Dawakin Tofa by the president of the Student Union of the Kano State Polytechnic. The prize of best female participant, a 24-inch television donated by the Ministry for Women Affairs was presented to Miss Binta Kabir Sallau of Government Arabic College, Goron Dutse by Mrs. Fatima Ibrhaim. The star prize of overall best student also a desktop computer donated by the Director of Press, Kano State Alhaji Sule Ya’u Sule went to Master Nura Abdullahi Adamu of Government Technical College, Kano.

In addition to these prizes, training scholarships were also given to the winning schools for both the students and teachers by three training institutions in the state. These are Hands-on Institute of Information Technology (HIIT) PLC, Mediwat School of Computer Sciences and Intersystem Computer Institute. Perhaps the star attraction was the donation of N50, 000 to the winning school by Mr. Kayode Shabajo on behalf of HIIT PLC to be shared to the students (N10, 000 each), the teacher (N15, 000) and the school (N15, 000).

With the distribution of the prizes over, it was time for closing statements by representatives of the participants and the teachers as well as some of the guests. The vote of thanks was offered on behalf of the organizers by Mrs. Fatima Ibrahim, Gender Officer of CITAD who thanked all the organizations and individuals who helped in one way or the other in making the event a successful one.

The youths were overwhelmed and could not control their emotions. You could vividly see the emotions erupting from them as they waited for the Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido who was the Special Guest for this joyous occasion as the graduation ceremony was long overdue. The emotions of some of the youths were captured; CITAD Correspondent: How do you feel today? Hamza Bukar: “I am happy and proud of myself; I never thought this day would come. We have written our assessments sometimes ago waiting for this day where I would be truly certified, having learnt these ICT skills. I don’t know whether it’s a coincidence but the day this programme was flagged off, the weather was cool and it drizzled and surprisingly today we are experiencing the same type of weather, despite not having the rains for the past two months. We want to thank the Hon Member (Abbas Anas Adamu) for this empowerment gesture and also not forgetting our Trainers from Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD)”.  Correspondent: How do you feel? Fatima A. Ba’gana: “Today is a joyful day for us. We want to thank the Almighty for making us see this particular day. May God bless this knowledge that has been impacted upon us. We are grateful to all those who made this possible, we have learnt a lot and have gotten exposed”, Correspondent: How do you feel being a female and one of the best participants graduating with a distinction? “I am elated, but there is nothing in being a female and being among the best. Females can compete among the best anywhere. I would like such types of empowerment to be focused on the females; it would bring the best out of them”. Correspondent: Thank you. Those were the expressions of the graduates.

The graduation ceremony of these jubilant youths took place on the 20^th of October, 2009 at the Secretariat of Birniwa Local Government in Jigawa State. The Jigawa State Governor, His Excellency Sule Lamido was the special guest and ably hosted by the  Chairman, Birniwa Local Government; Hon. Aliyu Idris Diginsa. The two months Youths empowerment programme was actualized by the supported by the Honorable Member representing Birniwa/Guri/Kirikassama Federal constituency, Rep. Abba Anas damu in collaboration with CITAD and Microsfot under the Unlimited Potential Programmes, a social corporate responsibility flagship of the software giant. So it was heartening seeing the Honorable beaming with smiles feeling like a Father seeing his first child pass his first promotion exam. The ceremony was opened by a speech from the Host, Chairman Birniwa Local Government. The Chairman thanked the Governor for coming to see his subjects at Birniwa. He expressed their happiness to the Governor while commending the efforts of the Hon. Member and the Director of CITAD for actualizing the dreams of these youths. The Director, CITAD spoke next. He expressed his no bound joy at seeing these 104 youths graduate from the empowerment programme. He said one of CITAD’s objectives was to use ICTs in development, thereby making youths employable or starting up their own ventures and in the process reducing the incidence of poverty. He also enjoined other personalities to emulate the Hon. Member by giving back to the society especially the disadvantaged people at the rural areas.

The Governor further went on to present gifts to the 19 best graduates comprising six with Distinction and 13 with Upper credit. Those with distinction were each given a complete Computer system including a printer and scanner, while those with upper credit were each given Digital cameras. All participants would be presented with their certificates. The Governor further went on to give his speech, commending the Hon. Member for his efforts in empowering the youths. He said such programmes were preparations for the future as the world was now a global village enabled by the use of ICTs. He said Youth empowerment was vital for any State which seeks development. He said apart from the revamping of the Education, Health, Agriculture sectors taking place in the State, the empowerment of the youth was what the State was focusing on. The Governor said that Jigawa State wants youth that could represent the State anywhere locally or internationally to be the best. He urged the youth to shun illicit drugs and anti-social activities.

The Hon. Member finally closed the ceremony by giving his vote of thanks. He thanked the Governor for honoring their invitation, the host; Chairman of Birniwa Local Government, the people of Birniwa, the Director of CITAD and its Trainers, the Youths and all those who contributed to the success of the programme. The Honourable Member saved the best for the last, he announced that the 19 best graduates would further be trained to make them proficient in the field of IT and be able to train others in their locality.

By Umar Farouq Uthman, Research Officer, CITAD, Kano

Malam Ahmed Yakasai and Rashid Sadiq addressing the participants

Participants were training on use of the internet, blogging, wiki and setting up and maintain of discussion lists. Training was facilitated by Malam Mukhar Sulaiman Umar and Malam Abdulrahid Sadiq, both of CITAD. Ten journalists from various media organization in the state benefited from the programme.

This was the second round of such training for journalists under the programme. The first training was held for journalists in Kano where 12 journalists were trained both on basic computer skills and online tools.

copy-of-list-of-beneficiary-organisations_3

Sixteen schools from different parts of the state will be competing for the various prizes to be won at the competition. These include a new computer set for first place position, a refurnished computer for second place position and a printer for third place winners. Other prizes are a television set for the overall best student, a radio set for the best female participant and a scanner for the teacher of the best schools. Additionally, all participants will get a participation prize of two computer books each

The three top schools will represent the state at the 6^th North ICT Competition which holds on 28^th and 29^th November, 2008 in Kano. Participants at the Kano event will include schools from at least eight other states across the north.

The occasion which will be chaired by the Special Adviser to the Jigawa State Governor on Information Technology, Alhaji Bala Ibrhaim has the State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Ruqqayya Ahmed as Guest of Honor while the Head, Department of Computer, Jigawa State Polytechnic will deliver the keynote address