The Asiwaju Skills and Innovation Vanguard (ASIV), a support group for President Bola Tinubu, has pledged to promote the administration’s youth empowerment and technology programmes across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas.
The group’s Director-General, Joel Eze, disclosed this on Saturday in Abuja during a news conference, saying the organisation would focus on helping young Nigerians acquire digital skills and access more economic opportunities.
Eze said ASIV was committed to advancing Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda by combining grassroots mobilisation with youth development, technological innovation and economic empowerment.
He praised the president for supporting Nigerian technology innovators to participate in the National Innovation Challenge in London, where young Nigerians presented artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and other emerging technologies.
According to him, the event gave Nigerian innovators an opportunity to showcase their talents and demonstrate their ability to compete on the international stage.
Eze said the group planned to roll out training and grant programmes nationwide in areas such as artificial intelligence, software engineering, data analytics, hardware technology and other emerging fields.
He added that empowerment boot camps would be established across the six geopolitical zones to provide young innovators with start-up toolkits, technical assistance and grants to develop their ideas.
The director-general also revealed that the organisation was working on a national situation room in Abuja, featuring a real-time data command centre and reporting system designed to cover all 774 local government areas.
He encouraged young Nigerians to take advantage of available training and innovation opportunities, noting that digital skills could improve their chances of securing jobs locally and internationally.
Eze said the group would also intensify grassroots awareness campaigns to ensure that eligible young people knew about government programmes and understood how to access the opportunities available to them.
He called on individuals, institutions and other stakeholders to support the initiative, stressing that meaningful progress in youth empowerment and technology development required collective commitment.
Also speaking, the group’s National Women Leader, Sharon Ayiki, emphasised the importance of women in national development and pledged to mobilise women from different sectors to support the organisation’s activities.
Ayiki identified market women, farmers, teachers, students, entrepreneurs and mothers as important contributors to the country’s growth, saying their participation would strengthen the group’s efforts.
Earlier, the National Secretary, Nafiu Adamu, urged young Nigerians to develop practical digital skills, including cybersecurity and other emerging technologies, rather than depend entirely on government jobs.
He said technology training could open doors to international employment and allow young Nigerians to earn income by providing services to organisations around the world.
Adamu also highlighted opportunities in robotics, digital intelligence and solar technology, encouraging youths across the six geopolitical zones to participate in the group’s programmes.
He added that ASIV would strengthen its grassroots mobilisation to ensure information about training, grants and other empowerment opportunities reached young people in communities across the country.
