BY SUFYAN KABO

In furtherance of its youth empowerment program, the Kano State Government conducted an ICT capacity training for 1000 GSM repairers. The training which was sponsored through the State’s Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Cooperatives and Tourism was facilitated by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in Collaboration with the Association of GSM marketers and repairers. The objective of the training was to build the capacity of the participants to use software packages in the repairs of GSM handsets. The 1000 participants were drawn from all the 44 local government areas of the state.

Cross Section of participants	Members of the High Table at the opening Ceremony	Director of Commerce making speech
Commissioner of Commerce Kano State	Another side of participants	Mal Umaru Isyaku Dan fulani Chairnan GSM Mkt Ass

The training was conducted at CITAD centre, located at No 1A social Insurance Road NSITF Building, behind Kano Trade Fair Complex. The training commenced with a colorful opening ceremony held on 2nd October 2013. The State Governor, Engr Dr Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso ably represented by the Commissioner of Commerce and Industries, Cooperatives and Tourism, Alhaji Danburam Abubakar Nuhu was the Guest of Honor at the opening ceremony. In his speech, he emphasized the importance of youth empowerment and restated the commitment of his government to continue to provide training opportunities for youth in the state so as to drastically reduce the level of unemployment in the state. He commended CITAD for initiating the training and urged the participants to make effective use of the opportunity.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Cooperatives and Tourism, Alhaji Abdullahi Haruna, CITAD Training Coordinator, Malam Ahmad A. Yakasai and the Chairman GSM Marketers and Repairers Association also spoke at the occasion. Alhaji Abdullahi Haruna stated that this training was only one of many programs initiated by the ministry in its efforts to empower youths with the sole aim of making them productive and self-reliant in the state. Speaking on behalf of CITAD, the Training Coordinator of CITAD Malam Ahmad A. Yakasai thanked both Ministry and the State Government for deeming CITAD as capable organization with which to partner in the state government’s efforts to empower youths. He mentioned that CITAD had for a long time been training youths in various entrepreneurship and employability skills and was only happy to be part of this commendable program that would enhance the skills of 1000 GMS repairers so that they could be competitive in the market.

The chairman, Association of GSM marketers and repairs Malam Umar Isyaku Danfulani, thanked both the Ministry and the Governor Engr. Dr. Rabiu Musa for initiating and sponsoring the training during the opening ceremony of Training of 1000 youths on GSM repairs. He called on the beneficiaries to fully utilize the new skills they would acquire and consider the training as a rare opportunity given to them as there are many of their kinds who are not opportuned to be part of the training.

Immediately after the occasion, the training commenced with the first batch of 200 trainees. Malam Ahmad Yakasai and Malam Isyaku Garba began with the Fundamentals of Computer (FC). Other facilitators included Sagir Abdullahi, Yusuf Sulaiman Yusuf (Anderson), Ibrahim Nuhu and Inusa Shu’aibu.

The 10-day training ended on 13^th November, 2013. Participants expressed their appreciation to the state government for the opportunity given to them, which will surely enhance their skills. They also commended the organizers and facilitators of the program. Abdullahi Muhammad from Nassarawa local government said “we are short of words to express our gratitude, we are very much gratitude to the facilitators and the organizers”,. Also speaking of his experience at the training, Sale Ahmad from Kiru local government expressed his immense gratitude and pledged to step down the training to his fellow phone repairs at his locality. In the same vain, the trainers also expressed their pleasure and satisfaction with the level of cooperation, interest and enthusiasm shown by the participants. They also stated that all the participants were found to be well behaved and they demonstrated great interest to learn.

TRAINING CONTENTS/TIME-TABLE

ICT CAPACITY BUILDING TRAINING FOR GSM REPAIRERS CLASS

Batches Trained