Moses Nosike
27 December 2008
AS a way to meet up with the global IT trend and also create jobs for Nigerians, Gestalt IT Limited, an IT training and development institute, during a seminar recently in Lagos called on IT trainers to imbibe quality training in the training centres as a way out of economic distress and youths' unemployment in the country.
Mr. Ben Omakor, managing director, Gestalt IT Institute said, "We realise that if the human resource potentials in our youth are quickly harnessed and then robustly trained in IT, Nigerians can become a major IT hub in the supply of IT skill across the globe." He said a nation's economic development is directly related to the development of its IT sub-sector.
He said building capacity in this sub-sector is a sine qua non to the development of the economy. "Information Technology (IT) is the real factor that will shape growth in the next decade. We should therefore take urgent steps to train relevant segment of our people in this all important sub-sector."
According to him, it will also create the necessary enabling environment for creation of outsourcing culture in Nigeria and train youths in IT capacity building. "Gestalt is a production of virile partnership between NITDA and the private sector in its bid to produce model IT institutions that aid in transforming Nigeria into an IT driven economy.
"Our philosophy is that if we must reach out to a significant number of our youths, then our programmes must be affordable."
Omakor said, "one major challenge in the industry presently is non affordability of most IT programmes. They are not within the reach of the average youth. Present exorbitant fee regime in the industry is restricting our people. At Gestalt, our fee structure is quite competitive, in fact, less than half the rate of current IT fees regime."
He noted that the second premise on which Gestalt is established is its emphasis on practical learning. "Here we insist on practicality.
The knowledge economy, we intend to build cannot be built on mere certification. Much IT centres are interested in getting the people certified without making them ready to imbibe with practical knowledge. Nigerians patronise them without practical knowledge. We insist on giving people the practical knowledge that can aid them secure employments in any organisation after interview. "
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