ICT training institute, New Horizons Nigeria, has announced a major Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative that is geared towards improving Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), reduce unemployment and improve national security significantly.

The initiative, tagged: ‘Almajiris -to-Tech’, is a comprehensive empowerment initiative aimed at taking Almajiri children off the streets bu equipping them with practical, income-generating technical skill such as computer technicians.

This scheme, which forms part of New Horizons Nigeria’s CSR, is designed to create public awareness and mobilise strategic partnerships, particularly with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and government institutions, to address the Almajiri phenomenon through sustainable, non-kinetic humane solutions.

According to the Managing Director of New Horizons Nigeria, Tim Akano, the continued presence of Almajiri children on the streets is not a failure of the children themselves but a reflection of broader societal negligence.

He maintains that God has not created any human being useless, and that every individual is born free to pursue happiness and dignity.

As such, he believed that purely kinetic approaches cannot solve the Almajiri challenge, but rather a combination of kinetic and non-kinetic interventions, with strong emphasis on empowerment and reorientation.

The Almajiris to Tech initiative is a 90-day intensive empowerment programme starting from January 19, 2026, with the aim of transforming Almajiri victims into skilled computer and electronics technicians.

Akano explained that beneficiaries will receive hands-on training in the repair and maintenance of laptops, desktops, projectors, telephones, radios, fans, inverter batteries, and other related electronic devices.

Also, participants will be trained on innovative and environmentally sustainable practices, including the use of scrap laptop batteries (e-waste) to power rechargeable fans, build UPS batteries, and construct inverter batteries.

They will also focus on laptop and desktop repairs, mobile phone repair, television, fan and projector repair.

Recognising that true empowerment begins with mindset transformation, he said the first week of the empowerment programme will focus on mind re-orientation.

This phase, Akano said, will involve structured sessions facilitated by a psychologist and an elite Imam, and will be delivered in Hausa language, with the aim to reprogramming participants away from violence, hopelessness, and begging, and instilling values of confidence, discipline, responsibility, love, and hope, thereby preparing them to become productive and law-abiding citizens.

Such topics as becoming good citizenship, patriotism, virtues of hard work, good neighborliness, among others will be taught.

Further, he said the programme commence at the New Horizons Training Centre, Abuja, and will be implemented in two batches.

The first batch is dedicated to key empowerment stakeholders. 10 slots have been allocated to the People Expertise and Excellence Foundation (PEEF), an NGO committed to skill acquisition and human capital development, while another 10 slots have been allocated to Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (Yayi).

Senator Yayi is a long-standing and widely respected youth empowerment advocate who has previously facilitated the training of over 5,000 youths across South-West Nigeria through New Horizons Nigeria. The allocation of slots to him under this scheme is intended to extend his youth empowerment initiatives to Northern Nigeria, particularly among Almajiri communities.

Also, at the conclusion of the training, New Horizons Nigeria will ensure that participants are not left unsupported.

Akano said graduates will be assisted with market placement, they will be provided with suitable locations to operate, and formally settled as New Horizons Computer Technicians.

In addition, the best graduating student (Almajiri) will receive full funding and a complete set of business tools to immediately commence independent practice. Throughout the training period, New Horizons will also provide essential tools for practical sessions, including items such as screwdrivers and other technical equipment.

To demonstrate its commitment to the success of the initiative, New Horizons Nigeria is committing the sum of ₦50 million to this project. This funding will cover participants’ feeding, T-shirts, logistics, training materials, and the provision of working tools.

The organisation noted that this empowerment model is not new, having successfully implemented similar interventions during the Amnesty Programme under former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua where over 5,000 repentant militants were re-programmed and gainfully employed, and during World Bank’s youth empowerment where over 1,000 youth were trained.

In the same vein, a competition will be organized at the end of the programme, where the New Horizons Almajiri Technicians will be divided into four teams and each team would be challenged to build their own personal computer (PC), and also brand it with names of their teams. The team names are Team Shettima, Team Akpabio, Team Abbas, and Team Yayi.

Also, New Horizons will provide Post Almajiri Training through the technical portal that will be dedicated to the trained and certified participants. The portal will contain the names, telephone numbers, pictures, participant certificate numbers and their various guardian details.

The New Horizons boss said Nigerians and foreigners, who are interested in the transformation of Nigeria are urged to support the New Horizons Almajiris -To-Tech Empowerment Scheme, by visiting www.almajiritotech.com to learn more about how to be part of the true patriots committed to changing the course of Nigeria’s history from being viewed as a disgraced country to an enviable nation.

Akano disclosed that the second phase of the New Horizons Almajiri Empowerment Scheme is scheduled for the second quarter of 2026. He called on NGOs, government bodies, agencies, and leaders genuinely committed to peace, development, and total  transformation of  Nigeria to partner with the organization in scaling the impact of the program.

Through the New Horizons Almajiri Empowerment Scheme, the organization reiterates its belief that the solution to street roaming is not force, but opportunity, and that with the right skills-set and support, the  Almajiris population of about 15 million is more potent than oil in changing Nigeria’s narrative forever.