As part of efforts targeted at engaging the teeming youths population in Imo State, the government has introduced weekly youth competition to ignite and unlock students’ digital literacy ingenuity and innovation.
The competition, tagged: ‘SkillUpImo Challenge,’ is a sub-initiative of SkillUp Imo, a broader and premier human capacity development programme launched by the state government in December, 2022.
As an offshoot of the SkillUp Imo Project, the SkillUpImo Challenge is expected to fire up digital innovation and ideas among students in the state with cash prizes handed to winners each week.
The SkillUpImo Challenge, in a statement, yesterday, is also expected to drive the overall objective of the SkillUp Imo Project, focused on empowering citizens of the state with cutting-edge digital skills that will keep them relevant in the 21st century, among others.
At the maiden edition of the SkillupImo Challenge, held in Owerri, a student of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) centre, Chucks Official, was adjudged winner in digital skill innovation in the first week, based on shared experiences, ingenuity and digital innovation exhibited.
While presenting cash prize to the winner, the Commissioner, Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government in the state, Dr. Chimezie Amadi, said the SkillupImo Challenge will accelerate the actualisation of broader objectives of the Skillup Imo.
The broader objectives, according to him, are to train 300,000 Imolites in the next three years, with 100,000 trained each year; connect 60 per cent of graduands to high-paying jobs, as well as empower 40 per cent of graduands to be their own bosses, become tech entrepreneurs and launch their own companies, among others.