- By Emmanuel Ochayi
Students and lecturers at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) are participating in an ongoing five-day training on financial literacy and leadership skills, organised by Professors Without Borders (PROWIBO).
The training, which started on Monday, would end on Friday. It will run for three hours daily at the Faculty of Law.
PROWIBO, a non-profit organisation established in 2016, is tackling the global education gap. Its mission is to provide supplementary education to marginalised communities worldwide.
The group is committed to making quality education accessible to all.
Leader of the team and Chief Programme Officer Rachel Warnick noted that PROWIBO was founded to bring these exceptional, skill focused opportunities to students in their home environments and help bridge the gap between education and workforce.
“One of our co-founders, Dr. Caroline Varin, was invited to teach some students of the London Summer School of Economics, and she saw vividly how such a programme can have an impact on the students even though they were very short. Young people who come from families who have no money to pay for school fees or money to send them overseas can secure visas for the U.K. or the U.S.,” he said.
Warnick reiterated the belief that quality education should not be a luxury reserved only for the privileged elite. “We believe that quality education should not be a luxury,” she added.
She said to achieve their goals, they collaborate with partners and focus on locations where they are invited. She added that the partnership with UNILAG is facilitated by PROWIBO Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Titus Ayodele.
She noted the importance of entrepreneurship and how it could be applied.
“UNILAG has been very focused on entrepreneurship which is a key need identified for young Nigerians. In fact across Africa, we all know about increasing youth population and decreasing employment availability,” she added.
Entrepreneurship is one big solution. The principle of entrepreneurship can be applied even when you are working with someone else’s business,” she said.
On Financial Literacy and Leadership training, Warnick added that at the end of the training, they should be able to reignite students’ love for learning and encourage critical thinking so that they can apply knowledge acquired to real-life problem-solving scenarios.
Members of PROWIBO later paid a courtesy visit to the office of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola where they were received by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Development Services, Prof. Ayodele Atsenuwa alongside some principal officers of the university.
Atsenuwa emphasised the university’s commitment to harnessing and capitalising on the possibilities presented by scholarly involvement.
She said the university was not merely setting higher standards in research and education, but also dedicated to fostering student engagement.According to her the goal is to cultivate young individuals who are prepared for the future, equipped with valuable human capital skills and a strong entrepreneurial spirit.