No fewer than 1,000 youths across the country have been trained by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) on data analysis, cyber security and other digital contents.
Mr Funsho Odesola, RCCG Continental Overseer for Southwest Nigeria and the Middle East told the Newsmen in Lagos, that the training was aimed at empowering youths with technology and making them relevant in the future.
Odesola said the programme with the theme: “Future Clan Boot Camp: Empowering The Youths For A Digital Future”, started virtually and was concluded at the Redemption City.
He said:“The present education we have doesn’t connect with the reality of the digital future.
“Every six months, new things are coming up; what you learnt about six months ago becomes irrelevant. And when you check all our curriculum, they never connect with the reality in progress.
“This disconnection makes it impossible to address today’s problem and challenges.
“So, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to see that the young ones are equipped for the future, not just people in the church, but people in Nigeria and in Africa.
“Over 5,000 youths applied for this programme but the number was screened to 1,000,” he said.
Odesola noted that the training was open to all Nigerians, irrespective of their religion or where they resided, adding that youths from Middle East, Cyprus, Turkey and other part of the world also took part in the Cyber Security boot camp.
He disclosed that RCCG created more centres in the states of Lagos , Ondo, Oyo, Ogun Osun, Ekiti and Kwara to contribute to the development of the nation by empowering youth with knowledge.
Speaking also, Mrs Eyono Fatai-Williams, the CEO of African Missions Global, said the initiative would be impactful owing to the large number of participants.
“African Missions Global is a faith-based charity that started in 1996 by Pastor Mrs Folu Adeboye—the wife of the general overseer of the RCCG.
“We have an ambition to impact 100,000,000 lives globally by 2033, and there’s no way we can make such impact without leveraging on what digital space has to offer.
“We believe that with this initiative, we can reach a large number of youths, at least a million a year on this.
Also, the Programme Manager of Incubator Nigeria, Olawale Olatujuoye, one of the organisers, said the training was put together with the aim to help the youth participate actively in the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Olatujuoye explained that Africa had missed out on the first, the second and the third industrial revolutions, hence the need to level up by enabling youths to be more active and viable to participate in the 4th industrial revolution.
“Gaining the right skills, which is paramount to that, is what we’re doing for them here, which is the basic entry point into the 4th industrial revolution.
“We believe that quite a number of them will start from here, learn, get jobs, gather experience, start their own company and contribute to the economy”, he said.
Meanwhile, one of the participants, Oluwakemi Olubodun, who took data analysis course at the boot camp, said the training had impacted her mentally and spiritually.
“As an analyst, you have to be on your feet, be creative, have problem-solving skills and this boot camp has done that and more for me,” she said.
Another participant, Anuoluwaokitan Ajayi, said his experience was amazing, adding that he enjoyed his time at the camp.
“It’s been a beautiful one week as a cyber security expert, I came here to learn and network with people along the same career path.
“Aside cyber security skill, I also learnt soft skills on how to relate with new people I meet, how to excel in job interviews and I was also impacted spiritually.
“I look forward to applying the skills I’ve acquired here to secure applications, secure web servers, defend against cyber attacks and tackle other issues relevant to the cyberspace,” he said.
Damilola Davis, who also benefited from the programme, said it increased his quest for knowledge.
“I intentionally wanted to develop myself in the virtual space, so I chose Cloud Computing (AWS).
“This is because it incorporates every of AWS’s services and business needs,” he said.
