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Four hundred and twenty-two final year students drawn from Lagos State University, Ojo; Lagos State Polytechnic, Isolo and Lagos State College of Health Technology graduated from the Ready. Set. Work Project of the state during the week.
The project is an entrepreneurship and employability initiative of the Lagos State Ministry of Education for final year students. Though 500 were picked from the about 3000 students that applied, 422 of them have satisfactorily completed the programme.
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode at the graduation ceremony on Friday, said his administration is committed to capacity building and sustainable youth development because the success of the state and Nigeria depends on the youth.
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Ambode called on the private sector and other stakeholders in the sector to join hands with the state government to raise youths who will transform not only the state and Nigeria, but also the world.
He disclosed that the initiative was conceived as a capacity building scheme targeted at final year students in the state owned higher institutions, as a way of equipping and preparing them to take their place in the stiff competitive labour market, create new jobs by linking up with those with entrepreneurial ideas.
Elated by the presentations of the new graduates, he promised to increase the number of next intakes to the programme from 500 1000.The team that won the entrepreneurship idea contest worked on Biogas Production and got a N1m for their efforts, aside the N5m donation from the governor and a N100,000 monthly working capital for six months.
Speaking on behalf of the graduating students, Oluwatobi Damilare, thanked the state government for the initiative, disclosing that the training has really widened the scope of their knowledge.
