Free Online University breath in Nigeria

the Nigerian Entrepreneur who Introduces it Nigeria's first online university has been launched by Gossy Ukanwoke who has been nicknamed Nigeria's Mark Zuckerberg. Called Beni American University, Gossy who is also the founder of the Students Circle Network, an academic social network for students, teachers and institutions that brings over 10,000 free academic resources from over 200 universities globally, and shares it free for students and teachers, said he foresaw it "as a way of clearing the logjam in Africa's educational sector of its several challenges that avails just some number of Africans an opportunity to be literate hence the essence of his innovation". "We realised that there was just a couple of issues in the educational sector in Africa. We have universities but they are not enough in comparison to the youth population. We have universities but the infrastructure is a challenge and then the cost of setting up something new was also a challenge. We were also looking at something that we could easily accommodate as many people as possible without the constraint of location or space or resources, so online was the best alternative for us. With an online university, you can take in as many students as possible; you can get professors from across the world. We have professors who are in the US, we have professors in Malawi, and we have professors in England." Andrew Ebegore, already a registered student of the online university shared his experience as he tells how easy life is to study as he does his work during leisure, gets an opportunity to interact and above all schooling take place right in his living room. "I actually do my school work at my leisure time not at my work time, it allows me to meet different people from around the world, I get to interact with students and lecturers and some seasoned lecturers from around the world, professors and all that. It's good because I interact, I learn, I do everything and I don't leave my house which makes it superb." A professor of Science and Technology in the University of Lagos, Duro Ajeyalemi, described it as "a laudable idea" which will bridge the gap in terms of challenges plaguing African youths but "right now the resources for successful running of the online university as it is not made available". "We do not have the resources enough to cope and many of our… because we have problems with infrastructure, electricity for example is not available in most places so we will need to have constant supply of electricity, we will need to have the computers and the technology for you to be able to benefit maximally." Gossy Ukanwoke believes that the high unemployment rate which has cut across the world and Africa especially can actually be brought to the low by entrepreneurship and empowerment which he and his team ensured is in the curriculum for those studying management courses in the university. "There is a high level of unemployment across the world and one of the things that can actually deal with unemployment is entrepreneurship and empowerment, so what we are doing is even if you are studying Business Management in our university, you will still take our entrepreneurship program, even if you are studying medicine in our university, you will still take our entrepreneurship program so that you can learn how as a doctor or as an engineer or as a Home Economics graduate how you can actually start a business and become an employer of labour instead of being someone who is seeking for employment."

FG launches community service scheme

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu has reiterated that President Goodluck Jonathan has made youth empowerment the focal point of human development activities of the present Administration with the establishment of Community Service Scheme (CSS) of the Sure-P. Wogu who made the remarks today in Abuja at the first quarterly meeting of the Community Service Scheme of the Sure-P with Chairmen of the state coordination and implementation committee, said the CSS aspect of the Sure-P is one of the many projects that the Federal Government has initiated to address youth empowerment in the Country. "His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, has therefore, made youth employment the focal point of human development activities of this administration, and the community service scheme (CSS) of the Sure-P is one of the many projects government initiated to address youth unemployment in Nigeria". The Minister recalled the menace posed by the high unemployment rate among youths, who constitute a larger percentage of the productive age, regretting that Idleness, hopelessness and poverty that shape the mindset of this segment of our youths force them into activities that threaten our collective peace and security in different shapes and forms in various parts of the country. The Minister stated that, "the Community Service Scheme is an initiative of the Federal Government with the aim to empower unskilled and unemployed Nigeria youths, women and people living with disabilities and at the same time improve the quality of socio-economic infrastructures, especially in rural communities, and renew the confidence and thrust of Nigerian masses in government policies and programmes. "The project is the first of its kind in Nigeria in which the Federal Government is distributing wealth and opportunities for improved well-being directly to individuals and communities and that explains why it has gained rapid popularity". Wogu disclosed that the Project Implementation Unit in his Ministry is set to commence a familiarization and verification visits to Abia, Bauchi, Delta, Kwara, Oyo and Sokoto states. The states were selected based on performance and logistics, to represent all the other states in each geopolitical zone. However, the State Coordination and Implementation Committee members in states that make up each zone would be expected to join the Town Hall meeting in each of the states to be visited in their respective zones. Speaking earlier, Martina Nwordu, Project Director of the (CSS) scheme in the Ministry, stressed that the meeting has objectives that include a review of the implementation status, a brainstorm session on practical modalities to tackle challenges, and to strategise on the way forward towards a more successful, impactful, result oriented, and sustainable implementation of the Community Service Scheme of Sure-P nation-wide. She commended the tremendous support from the management, with a complement of experienced and enthusiastic staff posted from within the Ministry to work in the Project Implementation Unit, the support has in no small measure helped us to cope with the teething problems of transition from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Labour without disrupting the implementation process.URE-P: FG launches community service scheme Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu has reiterated that President Goodluck Jonathan has made youth empowerment the focal point of human development activities of the present Administration with the establishment of Community Service Scheme (CSS) of the Sure-P. Chief Wogu who made the remarks today in Abuja at the first quarterly meeting of the Community Service Scheme of the Sure-P with Chairmen of the state coordination and implementation committee, said the CSS aspect of the Sure-P is one of the many projects that the Federal Government has initiated to address youth empowerment in the Country. "His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, has therefore, made youth employment the focal point of human development activities of this administration, and the community service scheme (CSS) of the Sure-P is one of the many projects government initiated to address youth unemployment in Nigeria". The Minister recalled the menace posed by the high unemployment rate among youths, who constitute a larger percentage of the productive age, regretting that Idleness, hopelessness and poverty that shape the mindset of this segment of our youths force them into activities that threaten our collective peace and security in different shapes and forms in various parts of the country. The Minister stated that, "the Community Service Scheme is an initiative of the Federal Government with the aim to empower unskilled and unemployed Nigeria youths, women and people living with disabilities and at the same time improve the quality of socio-economic infrastructures, especially in rural communities, and renew the confidence and thrust of Nigerian masses in government policies and programmes. "The project is the first of its kind in Nigeria in which the Federal Government is distributing wealth and opportunities for improved well-being directly to individuals and communities and that explains why it has gained rapid popularity". Wogu disclosed that the Project Implementation Unit in his Ministry is set to commence a familiarization and verification visits to Abia, Bauchi, Delta, Kwara, Oyo and Sokoto states. The states were selected based on performance and logistics, to represent all the other states in each geopolitical zone. However, the State Coordination and Implementation Committee members in states that make up each zone would be expected to join the Town Hall meeting in each of the states to be visited in their respective zones. Speaking earlier, Martina Nwordu, Project Director of the (CSS) scheme in the Ministry, stressed that the meeting has objectives that include a review of the implementation status, a brainstorm session on practical modalities to tackle challenges, and to strategise on the way forward towards a more successful, impactful, result oriented, and sustainable implementation of the Community Service Scheme of Sure-P nation-wide. She commended the tremendous support from the management, with a complement of experienced and enthusiastic staff posted from within the Ministry to work in the Project Implementation Unit, the support has in no small measure helped us to cope with the teething problems of transition from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Labour without disrupting the implementation process.