USLACC Africa and partners have unveiled plans to raise $100 billion to fund 10 year-strategic programme to empower African youth on ICT and others.
African Representative of USLACC, Amb. Ifeoma Mary Ejiogu stressed the urgent need to reverse the narrative of African youth from being largely consumers to producers.
She said her group which is the USLACC Africa, United States, Latin America, Chamber of Commerce, has taken up the challenge and has mapped out a $100billion fund that would be used to execute the project.
She said the programme will be kicked off in Nigeria by training 5,000 Nigerians in a programme billed for July 8th in Abuja.
She said the programme will witness the convergence of youths across the country exhibit their inventions and innovative ideas.
“Today we are talking about a project, a program, a vision that has gone worldwide. And that is about the youth of Africa and how we can put our heads together, join force to alleviate and eradicate the menace of youth of Africa just being consumers and not producers in the world.
“And that has caused a whole lot of wrong impressions by the people worldwide, western world, advanced world, as if their counterparts are better than them. USLACC Africa, the United States, Latin America Chamber of Commerce, which I am the African representative to 54 African countries, have taken up this very challenge, just trying to take the bull by the horns, to pull other people elsewhere to join.
“Let us begin to address issues concerning Africa and the development of Africa, but let’s follow it by leveraging technology, which as you know today, we can’t even talk about the place of Africa in technology in the world.
“And that is the reason why today, with the abundance of resources we have, with the abundance of opportunities, intellectualism, every youth, intellectual youth, talented youths, can still be good about doing menial things in search of greener pastures.
“We have the same resources we have. What happened to Africa? USLACC Africa decided that we will have to rise up and stand up and start calling other people to begin to do things rightly. And this is the program and the projects that we are using to start this 10-year plan to industrialize Africa.
“Leveraging on technology and focusing on the youth of Africa to give them the knowledge, the training, the equipment, and the opportunity so that they will begin to develop themselves, believe in themselves, and start producing. We are going to realize great inventors, great innovators. We’re going to realize youth that will be willing and happy to start producing, not just consumers.
“This project has a lot to deliver for Africa to be liberated. And I trust that after the event on the 8th of July, Nigeria would have opened their eyes to understand that, look, because we’re going to exhibit the youth that have started doing things in this country.
“We are going to talk about why are they not thriving, why are they not, you know, getting to the peak or getting to what they really want. We’re going to also be exhibiting some of the motivating factors from the Western world that the youth of Africa are supposed to embrace,” she stated.
The Managing Director/CEO of Reticulated Global Engineering Ltd, Engr Emem Coffu said the program will empower African youth by funding innovative ideas and solutions towards industrializing Africa.
“This program is to empower youths. This program is to fund those that have ideas. And we are calling on the government to take it seriously.
“China is where they are today because they paid attention to technology. If you go to their trade fairs, you’ll be amazed what secondary school children are producing. Every family has a cottage industry,” he said.
On his part, Managing Director/CEO of Eastern Farm Tech Ltd, Amb. Emmanuel Eneogwe who said all human beings are political entities said all Nigeria needs is right leaders and right policies implementation.
“We cannot continue to be hoping that people will do research and development, spend hundreds of millions of dollars, find a solution to problems, and hand it over to you on a platter of gold in the name of foreign relationship, international relationship.
“The day we stop dreaming, that day we’ll start making progress. This program is supposed to train youths.
This program is supposed to empower youths. This program is supposed to fund those that have ideas. And we are calling on the government to take it seriously.
You need policies. You need an enabling environment. You cannot do it without the politicians.
“These programs also have science villages where youths will be trained. They will see physical skills. You are having a high population of people that don’t have skills.
They have gone to university to read courses that are not really applicable where we are now. You are really business and fantastic course. Where is the business to administer? There has to be business for you to administer.
“Now we say, yes, government has no business in government, but government must take a leap of faith.So while we are winning foreign investors, we should train our youth, have our own local industries, see their technology, partner with them.
Some youths have fantastic ideas, but they need funds to run, but they may not have the management to run it. So the government can have a pilot scheme that the government is partnering with them, empowering them financially through the program like this and monitoring them and see them grow.
“So it is time for the private industries, investors to invest in this program so that we have youths that can do the job. Technical colleges have been eroded.
We need to go back. This program will help us go back. Without science and technology, Nigeria is not going anywhere”
Former Inspector General of Police and Police Service Commission, Dr. Mike Okiro stressed the need for Africa to first discover itself to move forward.
“Africa cannot go further until we discover who we are. When we discover who we are, then vision can be driven.
The prosperity we are expecting in Africa is not outside
“The resources we are looking for to move Africa forward is not in China, it’s in us, still within us. Until you see the prosperity inside you, you can’t harness the one outside. We have two deposits of minerals, the one on Earth and the one in you.
And it is the one in you that will attract the one outside. When you develop the one in you, it will begin to gravitate towards the one outside.”
Speaking through Hon. Saviour Okiro, he said; “the program is a very noble idea.Training and empowering 15 million African youths in the field of technology and developments.”
