Jobs: FG begins six-month free IT training for two million youths

The Federal Government is set to offer six months of free training to youths to fill two million job vacancies.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has also approved N120 billion to revive technical education.

Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, spoke during the third Ministerial Press Briefing, organised by Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris in Abuja.

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, also gave an account of his stewardship.

Alausa said: “We have almost N120 billion and the President has approved it for us to move this agenda forward.

“This programme will be launched probably in the month of May.

“Today, based on UNESCO data, there are 650,000 vacancies in software development methodologies, about 280,000 vacancies in cyber security, and about 160,000 vacancies in IT automation.

“Another 150,000 vacancies in AI and machine learning, about 120,000 vacancies in cloud computing, and about 60,000 vacancies worldwide in national language processing.

“Add that together, we have almost two million job vacancies out there.

“So, what we’re doing with Digital Training Academy is working with trainers that will offer six- months of training to young engineers.

“We, as a government, will pay for their internet services, pay for their certification- Cisco certification, End of Career certification, and Google certification.”

Alausa said the strategy would give Nigerians new digital skills needed to stand out in the world.

He added that the training would be launched on or before June.

READ ALSO:

• Customs seize $1.15m, SR135,900 (Saudi Riyals) at Kano airport
• US court to Trump: Return workers fired across agencies
• Blackout: Ikeja DISCO restores power at Air Force Base

The minister said the Federal Ministry of Education was putting measures to encourage Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to meet the areas of needs.

He said this would be done through the Digital Training Academy (DTA) to give students skills in service industries.

Alausa reiterated the commitment of the government to return 10 million out-of-school children to the classrooms.

He said the ministry was working on a new strategy to increase access, improve quality and enhance education systems for foundational learning.

Alausa said between now and 2027, the government will reconstruct 195,000 classrooms across the nation.

How Natasha can get her Senate suspension reversed – Akpabio

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has called on Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to apologise to the Senate, suggesting it could lead to a reconsideration of her six-month suspension.

Speaking during plenary on Thursday, Mr Akpabio expressed that the Senate, under his leadership, is committed to peace and remains open to resolving internal conflicts. However, he cautioned that Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s handling of her suspension could discourage political leaders from appointing women to significant positions in the future.

“We are still open to making sure that we remain in peace. We left room for her to recognise that what she is doing may even frighten a lot of men in future from even appointing or selecting female deputy governors,” Mr Akpabio said.

He added an analogy to emphasize his point: “You can imagine if somebody like Kamala, the immediate past vice president of the United States, were to go on CNN to say that President Joe Biden sexually assaulted her by shaking her hand or by holding her hand to show her the office of the president. That automatically means that nobody will pick another woman as vice president.”

Mr Akpabio appealed to politicians not to let one incident affect opportunities for women in politics.

“But I have four daughters, so I want to plead with politicians to still give my four children a chance. Do not take the action of one person and punish others,” he added.

READ ALSO:

• Dangote gives 10kg rice each to one million Nigerians
• Putin gives conditions for Ukraine ceasefire
• New Zealand university offers up to $10,000 scholarship for international students

Despite the controversy, Mr Akpabio reassured the public that the Senate remains dedicated to promoting gender representation. He highlighted that all four female senators currently serve as committee chairpersons to ensure women’s voices are heard in the legislature.

“My religion and the Bible forbid that, that the sins of the father will no longer be visited on the children. So please, we still have absolute confidence in our female folks. In this 10th Assembly of the Senate, we have only four women and the four of them are all committee chairmen, intentionally, in order to give a voice to women in the parliament,” he noted.

He also acknowledged the vote of confidence from fellow senators, pledging not to take their support for granted.

Mr Akpabio clarified that Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension was a unanimous decision by the Senate, not a personal action against her. He accused her of distorting the circumstances of her suspension in media appearances and criticized her for seeking international intervention without fully exploring domestic avenues for resolution.

“It’s also important for the public to know that whatever decision we arrive at here is unanimous and I recall the last decision we took which concerned one of our sisters, Distinguished Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. I’m also aware that when she left the chambers, she went to Brekete Radio and Arise Television, and she distorted the facts,” he stated.

He expressed disappointment that Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan had taken her complaints to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), suggesting it was an attempt to discredit Nigeria on the global stage.

“I’m aware further that she has now externalised the matter by attempting to embarrass the Federal Republic of Nigeria by going to give a narrative at the IPU UN event, totally different from what occurred in the Senate,” he said.

Mr Akpabio commended House of Representatives member Kafilat Ogbara for addressing the situation in New York, clarifying the Senate’s position to the international press.

He stressed that the Senate operates within the framework of the Nigerian Constitution and has mechanisms to handle internal disputes.

“She has gone to the international community, and she may not even allow the international community to look into it. She might decide to run to……..I don’t know where. I don’t want to be misquoted. But the reality is that we remain resolute. We are law-abiding. We operate through the rules of the Senate, which is an extension of the powers and privileges given to us by the grund norm, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

How Natasha can get her Senate suspension reversed – Akpabio

Nigerian woman declared dead appears in UK court to reclaim her £350,000 home

A 55-year-old Nigerian woman, June Ashimola, who was falsely declared dead, has appeared via video link from Nigeria before the UK High Court to prevent a convicted fraudster from seizing her £350,000 home in Woolwich, southeast London.

Ashimola was wrongly declared dead in February 2019, sparking a long legal battle over her estate.

However, she has now presented herself before Deputy Master John Linwood, asserting that she is alive and a victim of fraud.

According to DailyMail on Wednesday, the court heard that following her wrongful declaration of death, power of attorney over her estate, which consisted primarily of a house, was granted to Ms. Ruth Samuel, acting on behalf of Bakare Lasisi, who falsely claimed to have married Ashimola in 1993.

However, the judge ruled that the supposed marriage was a fabrication and that Lasisi did not exist.

According to court records, Ashimola left the UK for Nigeria in 2018 and had not returned since.

By October 2022, power of attorney had been awarded to Samuel on behalf of the fictitious Lasisi, who laid claim to Ashimola’s estate.

The judge ultimately found that Tony Ashikodi, a convicted fraudster who served three years in prison in 1996 for obtaining property by deception, had orchestrated the elaborate scheme to seize her home.

READ ALSO:

• Ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey locked out of X account
• Obasanjo lambasts Tinubu on high cost of VP new residence, Lagos-Calabar highway
• ‘Akpabio can’t be forced to honour IPU invitation over Natasha’s accusations’

“This is an unusual probate claim in that the deceased says she is very much alive,” Deputy Master Linwood remarked, describing the case as a web of fraud, forgery, impersonation, and intimidation.

“The root of this claim is a long running battle or campaign waged by a Mr Tony Ashikodi for control and/or ownership of the property.

‘Ms Ashimola left the UK for Nigeria in about October 2018 and has not returned since. This claim involves wide-ranging allegations of fraud, forgery, impersonation and intimidation,” Linwood added.

Despite visa challenges preventing her from appearing in person, Ashimola’s identity was verified through passport photographs, leading the judge to dismiss the claims against her estate.

After reviewing the evidence, Deputy Master Linwood ruled, “’I find Ms Ashimola is alive and that the death certificate was forged and/or fraudulently obtained or produced or concocted.

“Her alleged death was part of Mr Tony Ashikodi’s attempts to wrest control of the property from her.

“The person who appeared before me and identified herself as Ms Ashimola was physically like her photographs in each passport.

READ ALSO:

• Natasha: Senate writes IPU on her suspension
• Nigerian man gets life jail in Italy for rape, murder
• Heavens won’t fall if Gov Fubara is impeached, says Wike

“I find that Ms Ashimola was not married to Mr Lasisi and that the marriage certificate is a concocted or fraudulent document for these reasons.

“I do not accept Mr Lasisi exists or if he does is aware of his identity being used. I do not accept that emails supposedly from him were actually from him.”

He further accused Ashikodi of attempting to mislead the court and found that both Ashikodi and Samuel were either directly involved in producing the fraudulent documents or knowingly relied on them.

He added, “I find that the probate power of attorney submitted supposedly by Mr Lasisi and Ms Samuel was a fraudulently produced or concocted document.

“The death certificate was not proven to the necessary standard in that only a copy was produced. The provenance was unknown. There was no evidence before me that it was a genuine document evidencing a real event.

“I find it was forged and/or fraudulently produced or concocted. The persons who relied upon it namely Mr Tony Ashikodi and Ms Samuel were either directly involved in its production or else knew it was false.’”

As a result, the power of attorney was revoked, safeguarding Ashimola’s rightful ownership of her £350,000 property.

The court also heard that legal costs incurred by both parties have exceeded £150,000, an amount that may surpass the property’s equity value.

Nigerian woman declared dead appears in UK court to reclaim her £350,000 home