Firm partners Edo government to lift Nigeria into the world of hi-tech

Forum 11 months ago

Firm partners Edo government to lift Nigeria into the world of hi-tech

BENIN CITY – LEVERAGING on the today’s digital world, a Nigerian firm, Imosé Technologies has taken a bold step to train young people that would produce Nigerians’ needs in a new world and also prepare the beneficiaries for the expected leaps the world would experience through digital technology.

This imminent revolution was unveiled few days ago in Benin City, the Edo state capital where the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki commissioned a tablet making and repair centre at the Benin Technical College owned by Imosé Technologies which he said would ensure the sustainability of the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EDOBEST) that has now been extended to Junior Secondary Schools tagged EDOBEST 2:0.

From September this year it is expected that the state government would start purchasing tablets from the facility for JSS students as part of their learning tools.

The company is expected to train 100 students from the Benin Technical College in every six months on smart devices repair and tablets assembling.

The Chairman of the company, Osayi Izedonmwen said the outfit was committed to build a robust technology base in the country noting that the time was right for Nigeria to produce the gadgets her citizens’ use and that it would help develop skills and lead to economic viability to the students and the society.

According to him, “Upon graduation, the best students will be assimilated into the tablets factory as interns and be given full-time employment after a probationary period. However, with the training that each cohort will receive, those that are not absorbed into the internship would already be enabled to become entrepreneurs and have their own tablet and smart phone repair centres.”

Based on the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) data, Nigeria currently has over 100 million mobile phone users but according to Statista, “estimates from different sources put the number of smartphone users in Nigeria at roughly 25 and 40 million” and “with that many smartphone users in the country, beneficiaries of the Imosé Tablets Production Centre training will not be idle. Rather, they will be life ready.” He said.

According to him,”Our wish is to build the talents that are required to operate manufacturer facilities that would run those devices. What we have done as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is that we have a partnership with the Technical and Vocation Board in Edo state to site a Tablets Production and Repair Centre at Benin Technical College.

“The intention is to engage in multiple production, one of these is to train students of this College on how to produce tablets, assemble and repair, and to give them skills that would make them self-reliance so that as they graduate from school facilities, and move into the society, and become economically viable individuals that can employ themselves gainfully through the skill the gain here.

“Secondly, because of our commitment to Nigerians we also want to build a base that will give us production facilities to further expand our capabilities around tablets production, smart phones production, browser, WiFi and others. As a business we have built various distribution networks across Nigeria, for several years ago, almost a decade now.

“We are getting most of our knock down parts material, almost 70% from Asia, China and South Korea. We are also producing some of those parts here in Nigeria. Some of those components are rubber plastics.

“We hope that as we start this journey through a very careful strategic initiatives that we are pushing right now, we would be able to increase the percentage of local content in our products, to at least above 60% over the next three years, that is our commitment, vision and this is the first step to the journey.

Osayi Izedomwen said the partnership with the Edo state government is to move the State forward.”The state government through the Technical and Vocational Education Board, gave us these facilities to use, by giving us access to these facilities, we will in turn train the students. The students on their own are going to be trained for six months internship training on tablet production and assembling. As the students graduate from these facilities, we are also going to give them internships in our company, both here and other locations in the country where we are working.

“Now, as they move out from those internships, there will also be an employment opportunity for those students that we have trained. Think about the situation where we have trained the students for six months, done an internship with us. These are the kind of people we would employ in our company, that is the long term strategy and planning we have adopted,” he added.

Speaking on the target number of students trained in this whole process, Osayi Izedomwen, said,”our initial target or poll is to cover and train over 100 students for the next six months, both males and females.We are very passionate about the girl child education that is why we are key to this programme. That is why we are excited that in this present training about 40% of the students are females.

“We look forward to bringing even more females so that the training can expand more, so that as the training expands, we are also bringing more females to tap for the opportunity to gather these technological skills, and prepare them for life as they graduate from the Technical school,” he explained.

Izedonmwen said the Imosé Technologies Tablets Production Centre has an objective to create a robust technological base in Nigeria and develop highly trained indigenous technical personnel. He said It is an offshoot of the Imosé Technical Training Academy which started in 2022 to empower Nigerian youth with skills to serve in the telecommunications sector or launch into entrepreneurship.

He said “The academy runs a three-month intensive certification programme annually in Lagos, Benin, Abuja and Port Harcourt for youths aged 18 to 30 years. Participants are trained in the repair of mobile devices, graphic design using mobile apps and product photography. They are provided with training kits to enable them to engage thoroughly in the training, and the programme is both theoretical and hands-on.

Because of the Edo State Government’s favourable disposition towards partnering with “Edo Sons,” the chairman of Imosé Technologies, Osayi Izedonmwen, who is from Edo State, decided to give back to his home state through the Tablets Production Centre. He believes that Edo State has the potential to become the InfoTech hub of Nigeria and Imosé Technologies wants to be part of that transformation. He also hopes that the company can introduce elements of software training in the future.

At the commissioning of the facility, Governor Obaseki rued the neglect of technical and vocational education over the years saying “As we celebrate education week this year, it is a pleasure to unveil another innovative programme, which the ministry of education has come out with.

“Unless we change the paradigm of education in our country, we are not going anywhere. If you look at the history of Nigeria, why we were good in the 1940s,50s,60s,70s, 80s,90s in education is because of the kind of investment we put in education. Particularly, at the foundational levels and the skills level. Unfortunately, most of those things have been wiped out.

“Nobody cares about BTC or any of our Technical schools. For this school, Benin Technical College, it is supposed to be a pilot of what we want to do across the state. Every local government in the state is supposed to have a Technical College. Is not just a technical college where those who produce people leave with certificates, but technical schools where people leave with skills.