YOUTHVILLE ISSUE #124
Friday, March 31, 2017
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youthville@dailytrust.com
...young at heart
Tech platform ‘Start-up Gamji’ harnessing Northern geniuses — Founder, Zulaha Zulaha Hadejia, a lawyer and a tech guru, is the brain behind Start-up Gamji, technology promotion company that is bringing youth and tech lovers together mostly from the North. In this interview, Zulaha spoke about the platform and what they hope achieve soon. By Simon E. Sunday @SimonEchewofun & Latifat Opoola @LatifatOpoola
H
ow did this technology aggregation platform begin? I started ‘Start-up Gamji’ this year but the mother company is Decy4. It is a technology company that birthed Start-up Gamji. The CEO is Andy Madaki, and I am the Director, Business and Operations for Decy4. We came up with the idea of having a platform for northern youth where they can showcase their talents in Information Technology (IT). We started the Nigerian Innovation and Technology Expo (NITEX) Week in 2016 which was a huge success and we are doing the next episode in May. It was at NITEX that ‘Start-Up Arewa’ the first initiative about techy youth in the North began. We now continued to Start-up Gamji and so far it has been good, we launched it on January 1, 2017. What’s the objective of Start-up Gamji? The platform has three branches the IT, vocational education institute and the women sector. And to our surprise the women sector is virtually bigger than the other two branches because people are interested to know why women are into technology. The key idea is that IT is a global trend; you either get on board or be left behind. Our aim is to give a platform, a voice and create a place where the youth can showcase their talent in IT. A woman who has a career, it doesn’t have to be IT can excel in whatever she is doing through this. It’s a platform for youth where we ensure our voice is heard, to catch up with world’s best practices in technology. How many persons are presently under this platform as members? We have over 3,000 members. We’ve been doing stuff quietly since the launch. We plan to have hubs around Nigeria where we can incubate and incorporate the vocational educational institute. It is being designed to teach skills perfectly with best practices found in other climes. For instance, the Togolese, Beninese and Igbos are mostly fund of installing POP ceiling. You hardly find an Hausa guy doing POP so we want to teach
them how to be professional about it. Do you have challenges with funding this platform? We hardly ever get sponsors at all. Microsoft and Etisalat left at the last minute during the first NITEX; so now that they saw we can deliver, they are back and want to partner. These 3,000 people we work with understand and know that we don’t have the money but are working to create lasting and sustainable partnership that they can benefit from. The office of the SSA to the President on Youth and Student Affairs, Nasir Adhama has endorsed us and we are partners. Chocolate City, Iblend, Jaruma, and Virtual Agents are our media partners. The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) is our main sponsor; they have been backing us since we started. The First
Our aim is to give a platform, a voice and create a place where the youth can showcase their talent in IT. A woman who has a career, it doesn’t have to be IT can excel in whatever she is doing through this
Lady of Kebbi State sponsors the top innovative woman at NITEX, and has pledged to support yearly. You mentioned creating hubs across states. What would this be? We initially wanted to start from Kaduna state because it is progressive but then the state is too saturated. We will start with Kebbi, Sokoto, Gombe, Bauchi states and Abuja. Will you be having a distinct hub in each of these states? Yes. We are creating a Cyber Forensic Hub in Abuja. A lot of our young members are interested in the issue of security considering how porous our internet is and unregulated it is. For Kebbi, we plan to open an agriculture in technology hub. What is the process of admitting youth unto the platform? They just register on the website. You tell us what you do. We then call you in and you fill out your preference either security, education because we are not limiting anybody. What is your advice to the youth, as technology trend revolves around them? Well our target is the youth, but when we started ‘Start-up Arewa Kaduna over 20 per cent of the attendees were older people. So I tell youth especially in Arewa (North), the sky is not your limit. Don’t think ‘outside the box’, that is wrong because there is no box. There is no limit to what you can achieve, just keep thinking and then put them into practice. Always be innovative.
Burgling: Bida Poly expels student, warns others Students of the Federal Polytechnic Bida, have been advised to shun criminal practices as the polytechnic authority reiterated its zero tolerance for misconducts.
The Chief Security Officer, Husseni Sulaiman, said anyone caught in the act will be dismissed. “A 23 year male student was recently withdrawn from the institution as he
was caught burgling a room at one of the student lodges,” he said, citing an example. Amaefule Izuchukwu, Mass Commutation Student, FPB
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground. – Teddy Roosevelt
Crescent varsity awards scholarship on good conduct From Nurudeen Oyewole, Lagos Proprietor of Crescent University, Abeokuta, Prince Bola Ajibola, has launched a varsity scholarship scheme aimed at promoting and rewarding excellence in academics and good character. The former Judge of the International Court of Justice, and former Attorney General of the Federation during his 83rd birthday ceremony said he invested his life earnings to establish a university that would champion and propagate total education placing emphasis on the quest for moral rejuvenation and a rebirth of values. “No brilliant and able child with good conduct should be denied proper education solely on the inability to pay school fees,” Ajibola noted. A varsity don at the University of Ibadan, Dr. Lateef Abbas, in a lecture during the ceremony stressed the importance of good morality in maintaining human relationship, noting that this also forms the basis for human existence. “Knowledge acquisition must not be devoid of morality because the two are Siamese twins,” Dr Abbas said.
UniAbuja’s Best Graduate speaks: How I balanced academics, social activities By Chidimma C. Okeke The best graduate at the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) in the 2015/2016 academic session, Mark Jonathan Tukura, has said his quest for success did not prevent him from engaging in social and spiritual activities. The 23-year-old Tukura, who bagged a 1st class degree from the Department of Theatre Art with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.59 also noted that part of his success secrets was his stand about being distracted by attractions from the opposite sex on campus. Speaking about his social activities, Tukura said: “I play football. I didn’t miss my football training throughout my stay in school, I don’t miss my church rehearsals, I don’t miss my theatre rehearsals, I read my books and I don’t miss classes.” If you put your attention on one the other will suffer, I shared it equally, he added. He explained that when he got into the university he made up his mind to come out top, though first class was not his aim. Tukura also said many students who aspire to be like him always ask about the secrets to his academic success. “I always tell them that it is about commitment. If your mind is made up, you will do it. I also tell them that whatever you do, ensure you do it very well. By so doing you will emerge the best and even if you are not, you will be counted among the best,” he said.
26 Foundation seeks support for orphans, widows By Simon E. Sunday @SimonEchewofun An orphanage and widow support platform, Poverty Alleviation Foundation has called for more robust partnership to increase the level of support for such persons in rural communities. The founder, Evangelist Okey Obodozie yesterday that it is presently caring for 100 orphans and 5,000 widows drawn from various parts of the country. A laudable project of the foundation he said is the scholarship scheme where 15 orphans have been enrolled already in Imo state. “I started the foundation in 2008 with just two cups of rice. I visited a childless widow surviving in a tent with that. Her attitude spurred my quest to start a foundation for the needy,” he said. He said it had established small scale businesses for widows and also gave over 100 bags of rice to the widows every festive period, to improve their standard of living. Obodozie, therefore, called for more partnership, especially from the government, private individuals and NGOs to enable the foundation meet the needs of widows. He called on Nigerians to show more interest in helping the needy in the society, adding that such support could help to reduce the rate of crime and enhance the level of security in the country.
DAILY TRUST, Friday, March 31, 2017
YOUTHVILLE
One year after: Tales of ‘NAIJA GREEN CARD’ for Nigerian youth By Musa Abdullahi Krishi
T
he Naija Green Card, introduced on March 21, 2016 by a former member of the House of Representatives and now Chief of Staff to Yussuf Suleiman Lasun, the Deputy Speaker of the House, Bimbo Daramola, is to offer the Nigerian youth the opportunity to have insurance or defence against the prevailing socioeconomic realities. The card targets mostly students between the ages of 18 and 35 and it could get the beneficiaries access to thousands of exclusive discounts. At the beginning, the first state government to endorse the initiative was the Sokoto State Government under Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. Tambuwal went on to sign a pact with Naija Green Card to place Sokoto students, from Senior Secondary School (SSS) 3 students and youth corps members, on the project. Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, also endorsed the card, and the initiative is having a partnership with the ex-VP’s office. The discount given, according to the promoters, is between five and 70 per cent and that students could save up to N300,000 in a year. Currently, there are 9,000 card users and 10,000 partners spread across all sectors: healthcare, tourism, transportation. Daramola told the Daily Trust YOUTHVILLE in an interview that so far, they have achieved a lot in helping the youth, especially students since it
Senator Adeleke Mamora endorsing the scheme last year.
started on March 21, 2016. Asked about their projection for the next one year, Daramola said: “We are projecting over five million card holders on this platform. We are positive because all the details are concluded. We are storming different higher institutions in the six geopolitical zones for sensitisation and we’re starting with the University of Ilorin.” He added that they have a pact with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to enrol corps members in the 37
Students told to shun ‘campus marriage’ Student of the Federal Polytechnic, Bida have been advised to desist from the act of Co-habitation on Campus also known as Campus marriage. This was made known by the Dean of Student Affairs Federal Polytechnic Bida. Mal. Baba Shehu recently. “Campus marriage is the act in which students of the opposite sex live together and act like married couples,” he said. He therefore urged student’s to be good ambassadors and also to remember the family they are coming from stressing the need for student to face their studies.
orientation camps nationwide for every stream and batch of mobilization. “We are reaching out to different youth groups. State governments are also a target, considering the fact that many can no longer pay bursary award. It is our belief that going by the Tambuwal initiative, many would want to emulate that,” he said. About those cardholders who may overgrow the scheme, Daramola said: “We have no challenge on how to disconnect a holder who grows out of the age bracket. The card is valid for one year, so it has to be renewed at expiration. During that process, with our data, we simply deactivate any illegible subscriber.” Daramola said the challenges so far have been enormous, considering the Nigerian factor. “To drive this project is taking a whole lot of money. It is highly capital intensive. 9,000 card holders; we have had to personally invest our energy, rigours, a whole lot of money has gone into this. “But the joy is the testimonials that we get from the field that urge us that we are on the right track. For instance, a youth corps member that served in the National Assembly told us that though she has been able to get things done with her Naija Card considerably,” Daramola explained. “We are also faced with a major challenge in a cynical society. We have instances of some people posting some unfair things about this project, because they don’t believe somebody can reel this out,” he concluded.
Final year student fabricates centrifuge A student of the federal polytechnic Bida, Usman Habib, has constructed a centrifuge. The equipment is used for spinning liquid sample such as urine or blood to separate blood particles from the serum before analysis. The project was tested and confirmed by the project supervisor, Engr Okonkwo Geoffrey who said the project was triggered by a request from a Biology Laboratory staff. solve the problem of importation. He said government’s investment on this kind of project will make
Nigeria a producing country rather than a consuming one. He also added that such move will serve as an incentive to the student for them to work harder and develop new ideas with their talents. Usman who spoke about the fabrication process said he had to study an imported centrifuge, understand the principle and then with his supervisor’s guidance, he constructed the local type. Ogu Amara Merit, Mass Communication student, Fed Poly, Bida.
Muslim singles tasked on healthy self-esteem By Latifat Opoola @LatifatOpoola @L Th There is a wealth of benefits th that come from healthy selfes esteem. Self-confidence is a tool that can help one m manage fears, tackle life's cchallenges with more ccertainty and maintain a p positive mental attitude. It is b based on past experiences, which further improves as one builds up a repertoire of success on which to rely on, these amongst others were lessons learnt at an interactive session for yout youths held by the Movement
for Islamic Culture and Awareness (MICA) in Abuja last weekend. Discussing with participants, an Abuja based Lawyer, Asiya Bola Suleiman said often times self-esteem goes hand in hand with appearance and hence one with low self-esteem has poor appearance with negative vibes. She noted that one of the many challenges Muslim singles face, especially female is the perception of being left behind. “Some of them use other people’s calendar to determine theirs. Oh my friend is married and I am not, I don’t have a car but so and so has. I tell them to
wait for God’s time because he created us in the best form and we are all on different paths in life, we can’t use other people’s path to judge ours,” she warned. She also called on parents to encourage their kids to always put God first in their acts and decisions from an early age. Also speaking, Ameer of the organization, Tiamiyu Idris spoke about cross gender communication, stressing that although there are many limitations for singles pertaining marriage in today’s economy, they must always be cautious of their communication with the opposite gender.
If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you – Fred Devito