The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, in partnership with VFS Global, has trained 100 young Nigerians in artificial intelligence to equip them with market-ready skills and reduce unemployment.

Speaking at the graduation and prize-giving ceremony in Lagos, the director-general of NECA, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said the initiative formed part of the association’s employability project.

He said that the project prepares young Nigerians with skills relevant to labour market demands. Mr Oyerinde said the AI training complemented the ongoing NECA-Industrial Training Fund Technical Skills Development Project.

He said participants developed four market-ready AI solutions during the programme.

“It is part of our employability project of equipping young Nigerians with relevant market-ready skills. Beyond what we are currently doing with the ITF in technical skills development, one of our member companies, VFS Global, partnered with us to train 100 young Nigerians in artificial intelligence.

“They came up with ideas and built projects that we are going to refine and probably take to the next level. For us, it is a continuation of our commitment to building not just skills, but relevant and market-ready skills,” the NECA boss explained.

Mr Oyerinde said the next phase of the programme would focus on refining the projects developed by the graduates and exposing them to potential users and investors. He said the participants would present their innovations at the TLSP Stakeholders’ Engagement scheduled to be held in Abuja later in the year.

“They have built four different market-ready projects. What we are going to do now is get them to refine those products.

“By the end of the year, during the TLSP Stakeholders’ Engagement in Abuja, they will present the products to the market.

“The projects include passport identification solutions, passport photograph applications relevant to visa processing, and optical number plate recognition systems useful for security in estates and businesses,” he said.

The NECA chief said the objective was to enable participants to become entrepreneurs rather than depend on the job market for employment.

Mr Oyerinde said the AI training marked the first collaboration between NECA and VFS Global, adding that the company had committed to sustaining the partnership through future editions of the programme.

(NAN)