No fewer than 120 senior secondary school pupils, drawn from five secondary schools in Agege, Education District One, Lagos State have won scholarships to undergo Information and Technology (ICT) training.
The gesture was part of activities marking Nigeria’s 62nd Independence Anniversary.
Managing Director, Avancee Pinnacle, Mr. Tolu Oluyemi, who stated this at a Teens Enlightenment Forum, organised in collaboration with Teens Upskilling Foundation in Lagos, said Avancee Pinnacle, through its subsidiary, PayOne Payment Solutions, would arm the students with requisite skills to become tech savvy and use technology to solve human challenges.
Oluyemi, who noted that the scholarship would not affect their academic engagements, or school programme, said his firm, in collaboration with TUF, intended to identify those among the students who have interest in technology and help build such students to add value to their families and the society.
“Our desire is to see these young ones start their journey into adding value to their environment. We want to see how they could be mentored to identify problems plaguing the society and be assisted to develop apps or programmes that could help solve those problems.
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“Technology helps man to solve challenges. Once you introduce technology into a process, you optimise performance. Once you are able to provide such transforming service, you make money,” he said. He urged the beneficiaries not to lose sight of their interest.
“You don’t have to be a genius to be in technology. You don’t need to be a software developer. Your success as a tech savvy person is in identifying challenges and coming up with products that can help in solving those challenges,” he added.
A data scientist and Team Leader with Microsoft, Ola Oyinbooke, an engineer, said technology goes beyond Yahoo-Yahoo and urged the would-be beneficiaries to apply themselves fully into what they would be taught to make a difference in their life.
“What I can tell you students is that the world is changing to favour you. All you need to do is to apply yourself to what you are being taught. You are not too young to develop your talent in technology. You are lucky that you got the opportunity to get a head-start. Make the best of it,” Oyinbooke said.
The guest speaker, Dr. Leonard Okonkwo, urged the students to pay closer attention to mental health as it poses the greatest threat to depression.
Okonkwo, who spoke on Teens Anxiety and Depression, stated that people should watch out for what he called five Ds: Deviation, Distress, Dysfunction, Dangerous and Duration. He noted that the symptoms of anxiety could range from feeling nervous or restless, increased heart rate, heavy breathing, trembling, poor concentration, poor sleep, substance abuse, and social withdrawal, among others.