YOUTHVILLE ISSUE #186
Friday, June 8, 2018
08078068532
youthville@dailytrust.com
...young at heart
Profit is what happens when you do everything else right - Yvon Chouinard
Budding cloth designer, Jennifer: Learn Rivers, Abuja students lead a skill, secure your future today Jennifer Garba from Benue State has found love in fashion designing. The young entrepreneur currently pursuing a Masters degree in Mass communication at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi has a clothing line, ‘JAYPAB’. She shared her passion for self-employment in this interview. By Simon Echewofun Sunday @SimonEchewofun
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hat is the motivating factor your vocation? I have always loved fashion, right from secondary school. Back then in school, I was doing the work of what I would later discover is called a “stylist”. My friends always consulted me when they wanted to put together an outfit especially when they were unsure of what colours to match. I got SOS calls from friends who had gone shopping but were unsure of what to buy. I unapologetically love fashion and I decided to start my own clothing line, “JAYPAB” as I aspire to become a brand to be reckoned with shortly. What is your typical work day like while making clothing? I work almost every day. I love riding bicycles since I was little and adding it to my workout routine has made exercising less stressful and more fun. As a budding entrepreneur, how are you overcoming startup hiccups? There are so many challenges faced as a designer let alone combining it with being a student. Most times, I have to multi task as examinations clash with date of delivery of clients’ clothes sometimes. What projects are you currently
working on? I am working on some projects to expand my outreach. One of them is a YouTube channel where we are planning on starting the exhibition of our products. We are doing this in collaboration with ‘stylemepurple’, another growing outfit brand. You have started this business for over one year. How do you source fund? My start-up funding was purely from personal savings. I expand the funding as the business continues to grow. What are your plans for expansion outlines in few years? I see the brand growing to be one of the big brands in Nigeria and Africa. We are really working towards this and we are beginning to see the signs of good things to come. What are your words to other youth about selfemployment? I will say to them, follow your heart and live your dreams. If you have passion for anything, work towards it and
develop yourself. It’s only what you’re passionate about that you can overcome. The challenges that come with it; where there is passion, giving up is difficult, so believe in yourself! For those who are unemployed, they should try to acquire a skill. Government alone cannot solve all the unemployment problems in Nigeria with the increasing number of graduates every year, so acquire a skill and be your own boss and employ people instead, secure your future today!
Abuja Literary Society gears up for creative festival By Bamas Victoria @BamasVictoria The Abuja Literary Society (ALS), a community of creative minds and patrons of arts, is set to host its first literary festival tagged, “Nigeria to the World.” The Festival, named the Abuja Literary and Arts Festival, is set to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of ALS.
Art exhibitions, book panels and books swaps, poetry slam, presentation of unique Nigerian dishes, panel discussions, writing master classes are some of the activities for the three day event slated for July 5 to 7, 2018 at the Abuja Exhibition Pavilion. Some of the panellist expected include Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Layla Ali Othman, Odafe
Atogun, Edify Yakusak, Bash Amuneni, Dike Chukwumerije. The Society was founded by Victor Anoliefo, Ike Anya, Ferdinand Agu and Ken Ike Okere in 1998 as an initiative to bring together writers, aspiring writers, book-lovers, intellectuals, and generally anyone with an interest in the literary arts looking to relax in a
creative atmosphere. The society holds regular activities including open microphone sessions, book readings and literary workshops amongst others. Apart from the weekly meetings, ALS organizes periodic events that contribute to its overarching goal of building and sustaining a thriving literary space in Abuja.
Plateau youth warned against thuggery, peace disruption From Dickson S. Adama, Jos A youth activist and member representing Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) Central Working Committee of the Plateau Youth Council, Dr Bapigaan William Audu, has called on youth to eschew violence and engaging in any activity that will disrupt the peace and tranquillity of the country. Speaking in Jos at a
commemoration of the return of Plateau Youth Council, Dr Audu advised youth against offering themselves to be used as thugs or agent of destruction by desperate politicians that would dump them thereafter. He said, “The youth must see themselves as tools of unity and development; they should be interested in a better tomorrow and be ready to plan for it. We must not
allow ourselves to be used by others to constitute threat to public peace or in the subversion of the electoral preferences of our people. It is time to turn a new leaf and begin to act deliberately and conscientiously.” “He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for granting Nigeria youth the best democracy day present with the Presidential assent to the Not Too Young To Run bill.
Cowbellpedia with perfect scores From Nurudeen Oyewole, Lagos Three students, Favour Okarike and Benny Sampson from Graceland International School, Rivers State and Chiedozie Uzoschukwu of Nigerian Tulip International College, Abuja have emerged leading scorers in the 2018 Cowbellpedia Secondary Schools Mathematics TV Quiz qualifying examination. In a statement from Promasidor Nigeria Limited, said the release of the results of the 2018 by the National Examinations Council (NECO) revealed that the three students with 100 per cent scores are in the Junior Secondary School category of the competition. About 40, 000 candidates participated in the examination with the junior category having 21,000 candidates. The remaining were senior secondary school students. At the end of the qualifying round, 108 students (54 each for junior and senior categories) will proceed to the second stage, which is the Television Quiz Show, it said. With 15 candidates in the second stage, Ogun State led the rest of the states in the country, while Rivers State followed with 10 candidates and Osun State and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja had five candidates each. This year’s prize money has been doubled as the ultimate winner in each of the categories will be rewarded with N2 million with an allexpenses paid excursion outside the country, while the first and second runners-up will receive N1.5m and N1m. The teachers of the top prize winners will win N500,000 while those of the first and second runners-up will receive N400,000 and N300,000 respectively, the company said.
#Nottooyoungtorun: NANS asks youth to rescue Nigeria By Latifat Opoola @LatifatOpoola With the passage of the not too young to run bill into law,the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Zone A has called on Nigerian youth to combine forces, in order to rescue our Nigeria from the hands of old politicians. The coordinator, Umar Farouk Lawal stated this in a statement issued to news men in Abuja. He said the aged politicians had over the years plunged the country into crises, ranging from economy, religion, ethnic and political instability just to achieve their personal gain. He also noted that the not too young to run agenda can only be effective, when youth support themselves with revolutionary ideology vying for various political offices. “The not too young to run agenda, can only be achievable if we shun money politics and support credible, tested and competent youth” he advised.
DAILY TRUST, Friday, June 8, 2018
26
YOUTHVILLE
Be the best in what you do, youth told
Making the best of audio books — Akah
By Hawahu Abdulsalam
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Youth have been urged to be the best in their endeavours in order to make an impact in their generation. A former Group Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Onochie Anyaoku who made the call while delivering a paper at a seminar on job opportunities in the oil and gas industry organised by the Nigeria Society of Chemical Engineers FCT-Nasarawa chapter. He said there are different sectors in the oil and gas industry where youths can work but harped on the need for them to look beyond government jobs by engaging themselves in meaningful businesses. In his remarks, the chapter chairman, Engr Onyekachi Omaka Onugu said the seminar was organised to introduce job opportunities to young and upcoming engineers especially in the downstream sector of oil and gas industry. The need, he said, arose due to the teeming number of unemployed graduates. On his part, Head of Youth Enterprise Development Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mashood Lawal urged youth to work hard and engage in entrepreneurship.
FRSC, partners sensitise public on focused driving By Bamas Victoria @BamasVictoria The federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) yesterday joined partners and NGOs to sensitise members of the public on focused driving and safe use of roads. At an annual rally tagged “You and the Road” held in Abuja, the FCT Sector Commander of FRSC, Wobin Ayuba noted that concentration in driving should be 100 per cent. “Anything short of that 100 per cent is a crash waiting to happen,” he said, He also emphasized the need to respect Zebra crossing signs. Zebra crossing is place designated for pedestrians to cross a road. It is designed to keep pedestrians together where they can be seen by motorists. The founder of GreenLight Initiative, Simon Obi said the sensitisation was to ensure that drivers and commuters make use of the rules and also to educate the public on the need to be road safety conscious. Another of the organisers, President of Junior Chambers International, JCI, Niniola Grace, said that road awareness creation and sensitization cannot be over emphasised “We are saddled with the responsibility of looking for where there is a need and meet it.” The event started with a road walk from Berger round about to Jabi Motor park, where aside from lectures optical services were rendered.
Nigeria to export skills soon — ITF DG From Lami Sadiq & Dickson S. Adama, Jos The Director General and Chief Executive of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Sir Joseph Ari, has expressed the organization’s readiness to deepen its skill acquisition programme so it can begin to export skills. Speaking with newsmen in Jos, the Plateau State capital at an Accountability Forum, he said from 2050, Nigeria’s population could rise to 500 million and that if such population is skilled, the nation will be exporting overwhelming skills. Citing a Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) study, Ari said many jobs are still available, but many Nigerians lack the skills to match them and that the education system has not helped much as it is focused on certification rather than acquisition of skills. The DG decried the situation where Nigerians are waiting for government jobs which are hardly available, saying that the richest men in the world, Africa and Nigeria today never worked for the government. “300 youth in each of the states are periodically trained on the aforementioned skills and after completion, a start-up pack is given to them,” he said.
By Bamas Victoria @Bamasvictoria saac Newton Akah is the Author of “Living in Gidi” an eBook that has quite a number of following. He recently made one of his stories into an audio book titled “Bathsheba”. Akah told YOUTHVILLE that “The motivation behind my audio book is to make a story that is as close to a movie as possible. Something you could relate with the way you do with movies, but without the visuals.” He added that “This is not common in this part of the world, audio books, and I’m trying to do it right, to attract the right attention. Like, hey writers, we can get them through this means.” Akah highlighted five things one should know about doing an audio. He said “Audio books
come alive with sound effects. You have to write a story that can adequately be treated with effects.” Secondly “The reading of the stories are important. Are your readers able to portray the emotions ringing in your lines?” In addition “Audio effects are nice. Gather them. From the
markets noise to dropping water, gather them, they’ll help you make a great audio book”. He said, “Find a great sound engineer. I cannot speak about this enough. They will help you fit the right effects, balance your audios and of course, help with appropriate scores. Finally Akah said “Write a great story. Even, if for some reason, other elements don’t play out fine, let your story sustain people’s interest.” Akah noted that making an audio book is not cheap neither was gathering the sound effects needed. He however stated that “I’m just pleased people are having fun with it, and it makes all the effort and time spent worth something. With 2,000 downloads in a week, well, that says it all.”
Why we’re targeting creative youth — Multichoice From Nurudeen Oyewole, Lagos The cable service provider, MultiChoice Africa has explained that the idea behind its recently launched of MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) is to harness the numerous potentials available in creative youths across Africa. At the launch of the MTF in Lagos, the Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe, said, “We are abundantly blessed in these areas, however, the space given for this expression has at best been limited and at worst, been relegated to the fringes of the mainstream economy, leaving
in its wake, unfulfilled dreams, unexplored talent and unwritten stories.” He said the firm along with partners are making positive socio-economic impact across communities through the MultiChoice Talent Factory initiative. Ugbe said there was no better time than now for a project of “this scope to concretize”, based on the fact that the brand in Nigeria is now 25. The MTF Academy Director, West Africa, Femi Odugbemi explained that the MTF initiative will deliver three touch points that launch throughout the year,
comprising, the MTF academies, Masterclasses and the MTF Portal. The first to launch is the MTF Academy, a 12-month educational programme aimed at furnishing 60 deserving, young, talented people who want to work and innovate in film and television production. “The MTF Academy students will be provided with skillsets to develop their talent, connect with industry professionals and tell authentic African stories through a comprehensive curriculum comprising theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience in cinematography, editing, audio production and storytelling,” he said.
NDE disburses tools to 300 trainees in Nasarawa From Hassan Ibrahim, Lafia National Directorate of Employment (NDE) Nasarawa state has trained 300 youth under the N-POWER Build programme of the Federal Government to become self-reliant. State Coordinator of the scheme, Alhaji Dauda Idris Wase during the presentation of testimonials and disbursement of trainings tools and equipment to the beneficiaries in Lafia yesterday said the N-POWER Build is targeted at the non graduate youth to provide a new crop of skilled and highly competent workforce for technicians, artisans and service providers to communities. He added that the training was in collaboration with the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) and the National Automotive Design and Development Council(NADDC) under the N-POWER Build basic skills training programmed of the federal government. He said 300 participants for three months in the following construction and automotive trades, including masonry, tiling works, electrical installations, painting and decoration, carpentry, welding, plumbing among others.
The trainees will do a nine month attachment to enable them become proficient in their respective vocations prepping them for selfemployment. They will also be provided with daily meal N10,000 monthly stipend throughout the apprenticeship period, he noted. “We also urge you to be good
ambassador of the programme and use judiciously the tools/kits to serve as good example and worthy of emulation by future beneficiaries of the scheme,” he said. Responding on behalf of other beneficiaries, Hassana Dahiru appreciated the federal government for the gesture and called for its sustenance.
Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it - Harper Lee