Train-the-Trainers Capacity Building Programme 2020
To further develop the capacity of African university graduates to become job creators, rather than job seekers after graduation, the University of Lagos Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Centre in Partnership with the Bank of Industry and the ARUA Centre of excellence for unemployment and Skills Development commenced a 10-day intensive training for lecturers selected across all department of the university.
This had become expedient because Nigerian and African students need to emerge as graduates who are equipped to create value for themselves and others, leading to an urgent need for discipline-centered entrepreneurship education. The expected outcome is the exploitation of the numerous opportunities embedded in the respective departments of the university.
Tagged as Train-the-Trainers Capacity Building Programme 2020, the objective of the program was to support the development of an entrepreneurial mindset among university staff. It is expected that the trained staff will in turn mentor the students in ways that support the creation and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities capable of resolving the menace of youth unemployment in Africa. The end goal was to build innovative and entrepreneurially minded youth from the University that create decent jobs for themselves and their peers.
The opening ceremony was graced by Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the Vice chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, the institution’s Deputy Vice Chancellor, Development Services, representatives of the Bank of Industry and other dignitaries from the academia, industry, Civil Society and Government. In his opening remark University of Lagos Vice Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, said the training would serve as an intervention tool for the challenges of unemployment in Nigeria and Africa at large. Dr. Sunday Adebisi, the ARUA Centre of Excellence Director stated that the major reason for the training for the lecturers was to discover the entrepreneurial components of their respective disciplines.
According to him, having this knowledge will fire up the entrepreneurial instincts in students, because if teachers do not know, it can be near impossible for the students to know.