A Non-Governmental Organisation, Gbandi Chukwemeka Emmanuel - Victoria Education Foundation popularly referred to as GCE-Victoria Education Foundation, in its renewed vigour to engage and boost the capacity of youths’ resident in Akwukwu-Igbo and environs has concluded arrangement to train over 500 youths on skills acquisition and entrepreneurship. The training programme which is in collaboration with African German Information Center (AGIC) and Sub-Saharan Entrepreneurial and Leadership Development Center (SSC) will be conducted in Asaba, Delta State in the first quarter of 2021.

The Director of the foundation and CEO of AGIC, Hon. Kenneth Chibuogwu Gbandi, disclosed this move in a press statement. He said that the project is targeted at the youths between the ages of 18 and 40years and they will be taken on an intensive training and transformational life coaching for personal development.

“The training will provide beneficiaries with a good theoretical and practical knowledge of entrepreneurship through the transfer of knowledge, critical thinking, self-discipline, problem solving, teamwork, how to write business proposal/financing, interpersonal relationship, marketing, the use of ICT in business, networking and mentorship to enhance their capacity to set up and sustain business enterprises. No doubt, this will help empower the youths and also reduce the widening gap of poverty and the rate of rising unemployment in Nigeria; which is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More importantly also, this initiative will help to further change the mind-sets of Nigerian youths against illegal migration and discourage them from embarking on the dangerous journey to Europe,” Hon. Gbandi said.

The Director of the foundation also stated that the youths will be exposed to the benefits of agriculture and its value chains and taught how to engage in exports of agricultural products. At the end of the training programme, the youths will also benefit from the African German Information Center (AGIC) program with international funding.

The Foundation was established in September 2018 by Gbandi’s children in memory of their parents, Chief and Ezinne Victoria Gbandi, both veterans and advocates of community leadership and educational development. They both dedicated their lives to helping others; particularly in the educational advancement of brilliant but less privileged students in the society. Since inception, the foundation has continued to impact lives positively in form of human capital development, by providing resources for the educational advancement and capacity development of youths through education grants and donations.

And in fulfillment of its service mandate, the foundation is currently sponsoring some indigent students in Akwukwu-Igbo, headquarters of Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, for their educational pursuit and also assisted brilliant students whose parents needed assistance in the enrolment of their Junior Secondary School (JSS) and Senior Secondary School (SSS) examinations.

The first set of students that benefited from GCE-Victoria Education Foundation’s support scheme for West African School Certificate Examination enrollment in December 2019 in Akwukwu Igbo Grammar School, Delta State, performed creditably well in their examinations, with three students scoring above average, thereby qualifying for the maiden scholarship awards of the foundation. Again, in 2019/2020 of West African School Certificate Examinations, three students sponsored by the foundation came through with flying colours, with one students scoring distinctions in all subjects and the other two scored distinctions and credits in the subjects entered for.

The Country Administrator, Mr. Joseph Nomso Adione, explained that the foundation has an excellent vetting process; with deserving students selected after proper assessment test, organised and supervised by the school administration and the foundation. “So the good performance recorded thus far in WAEC by selected students sponsored by GCE-Victoria Education Foundation is a testimony that the foundation is threading the right paths and out to make a difference in the lives of people at the grassroots,” Adione said.

Quoting Henry David Thoreau “One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something”, he added: “And doing something may just be all that there is to change the course of life. Accordingly, in line with its main objectives, to engage and assist individuals with potentials to aspire to higher educational development, give back to the community and to build a new generation of leaders; GCE-Victoria Education Foundation will continue to spread its blanket of hope through its educational intervention programmes for youths and community development.”

Some of the beneficiaries of GCE-Victoria Education Foundation’s education intervention scheme who initially skipped enrollment of their West African School Certificate Examination due to lack of funds and financial support got relieved as the foundation assisted in the payment of their enrollment.

The foundation is open for collaborative partnership from good spirited individuals, corporate entities and development partners for programmes and projects implementation that will impact the lives of Nigerian youths, communities and for national development.

•PHOTO: Hon. Kenneth Gbandi, Director, GCE - Victoria Education Foundation/CEO, African German Information Centre

Update news