Canadian firm, Edufirst.NG stakes $1m to bridge ICT skill gap

A Canadian firm JobMinders Inc and Edufirst.NG a subsidiary of Skoolmedia limited are staking over $1million to skill-up gaps for graduates, undergraduates and school leavers who may not have had the opportunity of a higher education.

According to the promoters, the partnership would enable the youths to obtain IT skills and acquire certification that will prepare them for jobs. CEO/Co-Founder, Edufirst. NG, Mr. Moses Imayi said the frms are  focused on building capacity and developing skills that will be relevant to the future of Nigeria.

He said with the growing trend of job losses and skill gaps in the Nigerian labour market, his organisation remained committed to ensuring the deficits are addressed with the labour market becoming more vibrant by adopting relevant skill sets that resonates with the 21st century.

Imayiadded that the partnership is expected to strengthen business collaboration between Nigeria and Canada, in bridging the skill gap prevalent in the country over the next 5 years.

He said: “Our partners JobMinders Incorporated, a Canadian organisation have over the years remained committed to providing and enhancing skill sets aimed at improving capacity. They offer job placement services to support corporations and businesses in achieving its corporate goals and enhancing client satisfaction. They have placed exceptional individuals in the following skill sets; accounting and finance, information technology, engineering, industrial and skilled trade and health care”.

Vice President, JobMinders Inc, Mr. Charles Osazuwa, explained that being a staffing support industry, his firm is poised to deliver personnel with the right qualification, attitude and enthusiasm that will allow companies to hire personnel on-the-go, and provide support to existing HR amongst others.

On the trainings to be offered, he said the first phase of the partnership will include IT skills acquisition and certification in the following areas, software development lifecycle management, IT project management, business systems analysis and quality assurance analysis.

Others are Cyber security knowledge management, robotics process automation, basic computer skills acquisition and outcome based orientation etc. He regretted that many of the courses in Nigerian universities cannot get future jobs.

Contributing Co-founder Edufirst. NG, Toyin Olatayo said the partnership is a revolution in a knowledge economy.