OWIA SKILLS ACQUISITION CENTER REPORT
Following the 2021 biennial home coming event, the exco of Ovim Women’s Improvement Association (OWIA) under the distinguished leadership of the president, Ugoeze Oluchi Chigbu, set up a committee and tasked them with the onerous task of drawing up a template to resurrect activities in the Skills Acquisition Training Centre situated at Ngeleoyiri, Ovim. The committee was ably chaired by Mrs Chileme Ekekwe and it came up with a detailed blueprint after several weeks of deliberations.
Subsequent to this, a team was raised to review and implement the tasks on the blueprint and get the Acquisition Center up and running. The team was termed the OWIA Skills Acquisition Center Board and consisted of members of OWIA. The Board immediately got to work, fine tuning the template and setting up the activities in the center.
To the glory of God, Ovim Women Improvement Association Skills Acquisition Center recommenced activities on the 12th of April 2022.
JOURNEY SO FAR….
Personnel Management: Since recommencement of trainings, the Skills Acquisition Center has waxed stronger and has climbed surely and steadily. In order to ensure sustainability of the vision, the first task of the committee and the board was to hire a manager for the Center whose job was to oversee and manage the daily activities of the center. The manager, Mr Godswill Nwabuikwu, who hails from Ohonja, Ovim, has proven to be a great asset to the Center and by extension to OWIA. Subsequent to his appointment, he was also incorporated into the Skills Acquisition Center Board. In addition to the recruitment of the manager, facilitators for the different courses were interviewed and signed up. The center has been blessed with very dedicated facilitators who go above and beyond the terms of their engagement.
Awareness Drive: Intense awareness campaigns and enlightment programs were commenced to sensitize Ovim indigenes of the activities of the Skills acquisition center. These campaigns were anchored by the manager. These included writing letters to churches, using the town criers in the different isi ama Ovim, using public address system while driving round Ovim. Youth leaders were also approached and their assistance sought and used to reach out to the youths.
Project Financing: Due to the paucity of funds and the overall economic hardship all around, the board sought for ways to subsidize the trainings to encourage more enrolment. After numerous consults with the OWIA President, it was decided that the initial registration and trainings would be FREE for ALL Ovim Indigenes. To achieve this, a massive awareness and fund raising campaign was initiated headed by the OWIA President, Ugoeze Oluchi Chigbu. The response from well-meaning and illustrious Ovim sons and daughters was very positive and we were able to raise funds to equip the center, hire the facilitators and kick start the trainings. The center is currently run solely on these financial aids given by donors.
Courses Launched/Departmental reports: A number of skills/classes have been initiated and taught in the Center including the following:
I. Mobile Phone Repairs Dept: This department kicked off on the 5thof May 2022 with 2 students who later graduated after the stipulated months of training having passed the post-training assessment. A second batch of 3 students commenced thereafter.
II. ICT Unit: Training commenced on the 5th of July 2022 with 7 students. The number gradually increased to 32 students by August, 2022. The first set of students has graduated having satisfactorily passed the post training assessments. Training is still on-going for subsequent sets.
Noteworthy is the fact that one of the graduating students of this pioneer set promptly got a secretarial job post-graduation courtesy of her proficiency in ICT.
III. Tailoring: Training in this department started on the 19th of July with 1 student. The number gradually increased to 12 students (albeit 6 regular ones amongst them). Currently, there are no graduations from this set yet due to the longer duration of the course.
IV. Event Decoration: This course kicked off on May 15th, 2023 with 5 students. The course is still on-going for this pioneer set of students.
All the lectures take place in the Acquisition Center at Ngeleoyiri. We have facilitators for other courses like Catering, Cosmetology, Autogele/fascinators but no enrolled student yet.
Other Activities: In order to be versatile, the Center introduced other related, revenue generating business activities.
a) JAMB CBT Training: The center introduced JAMB CBT training in March 2023 for candidates preparing for 2023 JAMB exam. We were able to train 14 candidates under this program before the exam.
b) Business Center: In early May 2023, the Acquisition Center introduced computer and administrative services popularly known as a “Business Center” in the Skill Acquisition Center. Feasibility study prior to the introduction had shown that there were no similar services offered in the immediate proximity so OWIA stepped up to meet that need. The Business Center offers services like: typing, photocopy, printing, lamination, wait and take passport photograph, internet services, scanning and others.
Interestingly, our personnel who works in the Business Center was one of the pioneer students of the ICT class. Same lady also assists the facilitator in the ICT department.
c) Hair Salon: OWIA is currently setting up a hair salon in the Acquisition center. The hair salon will serve dual purposes:
· It will serve as the training spot for students who enrol in the hair dressing course
· It will serve as an income generating business for OWIA catering to the public.
The hair stylist to handle both functions has been engaged and the goal is that the hair salon will kick off by June 2023.
CHALLENGES: As expected, we face challenges that threaten to deter us. These include:
The center is not connected to the national electricity grid. Running costs from independently generated power are quite crippling.
Unseriousness and poor uptake of this free training by Ovim youths. This lack of interest from our youths has persisted despite numerous awareness campaigns and pleas.
Also related to above scenario, lack of students has led to interruptions in some classes while some other courses have not been commenced yet after all these months despite having facilitators on ground.
More financial support is still needed from well-meaning philanthropists as the trainings are still free for students.
CONCLUSION: We most sincerely appreciate God Almighty for His mercies, faithfulness, guidance, wisdom, breakthroughs and favour. He has gone before us and made every crooked path straight. We have achieved much in the last year and we return all the glory to Him.
Our unreserved gratitude goes to the indefatigable OWIA President, Ugoeze Oluchi Chigbu. Under her dedicated leadership, this project has grown and is transforming lives.
We pray that OWIA Skills Acquisition Center continues to flourish and make better the lives of the people.
Long Live OWIA.
Skills Acquisition Center Board Members:
Dr Ngozi Madubuike – Chairperson
Mr Godswill Ekeugwu Nwabuikwu – Secretary
Mrs Ethel Ogbonna – Member
Dr Odochi N. Ndukwe (Pastora) – Member
Mrs Margaret Ajalla – Member
Lolo Okwudiri Goddy Okereke – Member
Mrs Nnenna Onyekere – Member
Mrs Obiaruko Ikeji - Member