Over 3000 youths resident in the 17 local government areas of Abia State will be benefiting from the N3.1bn full tuition scholarship empowerment initiatives of two Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs); Global City Impact Foundation, Nigeria and Revive Alaska Community Services, USA respectively.
Infonet9ja.com gathered that the initiative which was borne out of the passion to not just bring about change among youths in the state and the country at large, but to also positively channel the energies of the youths into gainful ventures.
The project facilitators while disclosing that they had already concluded planning of a boot camp for the benefiting youths in February, 2023, said that up to N10m capitalization award will be given to the first three winners of the Best Business Plan Competition.
According to them, while up to N1m cash prize will be given to the best three performing artists/musicians/talents, another N1million capitalization award will also be given to the winner of the best Innovative Product competition.
The facilitators who noted that Abia State has youths with great potentials that can place the state and country among comity of powerful economic nations if such potentials were developed and harnessed, said that the boot camp would provide the youths with the opportunity of learning and gaining skills while having fun.
The governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu who was represented by Barr. Charles Esonu, the Commissioner for Youth Development commended the Global City Impact Foundation, Nigeria and Revive Alaska Community Services, USA enough for bringing such investment to the state, adding that the state government was ready to partner with any responsible and responsive association/organization that wants to impact on the youths of the state.
On the role of government in the project, Esonu said “the government has everything in Abia State. He is partnering with this foundation. If the government refuses to partner with this foundation, nothing can ever happen.
“The name of government is a security. It also gives the investors the capacity, the good frame of mind and confidence to come in and invest, knowing that the government is part of what they are doing.
“There are a lot of things that the government will definitely do. As we go on, we will also have reasons to do MoU and maybe further this particular engagement to make sure that we do a bigger and a larger thing.
“Like you heard the facilitator saying that he wants to do a project worth N5bn, government will also provide the land where that particular bigger one will also happen. So, government has a lot to do with this foundation.”
On the assurance that the partnership will not die with the out-going administration, Barr. Esonu said “government they say is continuum. That is why it is usually good that somebody who is an integral part of the system is elected to succeed the out-going government and not someone who will come and kill every idea of the previous government.
“Assuming that six months is not substantial enough for this edifice to go up and the involvement of government taking place, the incoming governor will definitely take it off from where he predecessor stops and I want to give you all assurances to that effect.”
In his speech, the founder of G-Factor Initiatives International Foundation; G-Coach David Odeta, said this project is an initiative of the Global City Impact Foundation (GCIF) Alaska in partnership with G-Factor to bring this transformation to Abia State by transforming the youths of Abia.
“It is borne out of a passion to see change in our country and state. We know that the youths are the largest percentage of the population of any state, community or nation.
“If we don’t focus on the development of our youths, then we will not have a future. Abia State is a great state. There are lots of potentials in Abia State that if they are developed and harnessed, will be another China.
“A lot of production is going on here and that is what His Excellency has seen and he is investing a lot in the young people.
“We came in as Global City Impact Foundation to compliment what the government is doing and to also make our own contribution to the youths of this city and it will go beyond Abia State.
“We are starting with 3000 youths, but will scale up to 10,000 and beyond. We know the population of the young people in this state for example is in millions and with what the governor has just said, GCIU is very happy to hear that because we are going to be scaling up the number of people and they have the infrastructure, land and security, so, it makes it easier.”
Speaking on the choice of Abia as a pilot state, Odeta said “we know that Abia State is the heart of production in the eastern Nigeria.
“So, we are dealing with a lot of entrepreneurship, business development, skill acquisition and we believe that we should use Abia State as a pilot of the project.
“There is a business school for the entrepreneurship and business development. There is a school of Arts and Theater. There is a sports academy, ICT and Media Production (pre, production and post production), Cinematography and among others.
“There are avenues for grants and for different forms of empowerment. There will also be opportunities within and outside the country; it is part of the package.”
Chibuzor Nwanju, the State Director, Revival Alaska Community Services and one of the coordinators for Africa in his own speech said that they decided to partner with the Global City Impact Foundation to assist families fight against poverty.
“Revival Alaska is a community service in United States in Alaska that helps Alaskans spiritually, mentally and deals with homeless people, to find them a place to live.
“We are an NGO in America and these are services that empower regular American to be able to survive the recession and be able to give them the opportunity that most families do not have, that is what Revival Alaska does; that is the frame and ideology of Revival Alaska in which we are bringing to Abia State.
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Dr. Ngozi Ogbonna Erondu, the Executive Secretary of Abians in Diasporan Commission while thanking the two collaborating organizations for thinking on how to impact lives in Abia, also appealed to other Abians to see this as a springboard to think of how best they can use their positions to attract investments that can have direct impact on the lives of the people.
