From Fred Itua, Abuja
Frontrunner in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Anambra State and founder of Pro-value Humanity Foundation, Dr. Obiora Okonkwo and The Salesians of Don Bosco, an order of the Catholic Church, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to provide a vocational training and skill acquisition school in Ogidi, Anambra State.
The school, when operational, will provide the needed training for youths in Anambra State and other parts of country, thereby bridging the huge gap in the technical sub-sector of the economy.
Okonkwo said both organizations have agreed to work together for the good of youths of Anambra State.  He said as part of the moves, “Pro-Value Humanity Foundation shall mobilize funds and financial support for the training; make financial contributions directly or through proxies to execute scholarships; assist to monitor and evaluate the success or otherwise of training and programmes; support in providing policy advice on the programmes and specific implementations; and, contribute to the design and implementation of awareness campaign for the programmes.
“On its part, the Salesians of Don Bosco shall be responsible for the implementation of the
training and its work plan; approve and implement programme plans and recommendations; recruiting of trainers for skill enhancement and training of trainers; orientation and training of programme trainers and other partners; provision of training facilities; classrooms, workshops and other training facilities; and, recruitment of project staff including training, admin and account assistants.”
Pro-Value Humanity Foundation is a not-for-profit and non-governmental organisation dedicated to transforming the society by reorienting values for authentic human development. The Foundation focuses on people and believes in authentic human development to serve as change agent in the society.
Speaking further, he said: “The vocational skills acquisition programme, which will take off immediately, will be to the benefit of Anambra youths and it is our contribution to making society a better place for all. You will recall that Pro-Value Humanity Foundation had in year 2020, commissioned a study into the apprenticeship system in Igboland as a way of enhancing its capacity to build our youths and take many of them out of the job market. Earlier in 2019, the foundation offered scholarships to 100 Anambra youths to a week-long booth camp of Rotary International tagged Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and Training (RYLA), at Karu, in Abuja.”