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The Hope Uzodinma’s led administration’s agenda of Positioning Imo as the leading digital economy of the nation again received tremendous boost as it recently welcomed new partnership and Collaboration ties. Speaking, on a working visit to the office of the Honourable Commissioner for Digital Economy and E-Government, Dr Chimezie Amadi, the Registrar and Chief Executive of National Business and Technical Examinations Board, ( NABTEB) Professor Ifeoma Mercy Isiugo Abanihe in company of the State Co-ordinator, Mrs Christianna Okey- Ogwumba, extolled the Digital Boss on his successes in communication and Advocacy of the Ministry’s acts.In her words” Having heard on the media, the efforts of the government at transforming Imo from an analogue to a digital economy, I came to to see and verify for myself and I’m truly impressed” She commended and poured accolades on the State government as she witnessed the massive work ongoing to equip Imolites with relevant digital skills towards making them relevant in the 4th Industrial Revolution Highlighting that her coming was of dual purpose, in addition to paying her solidarity to the outstanding performance, proposed Partnership and Collaboration with the Ministry to ensure the digital skills acquired by the 300,000 teeming Imo youths in the skillupimo project are assessed and certified by NABTEB for sustainable wealth creation and economic self reliance. In the same vein, the Digital Boss, granted audience to the management team of The Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Heartland Fm Owerri led by the General Manager, Mr kenechukwu Ndulewe Anyanwu. “Since the commencement of your stewardship, we have observed the vigour which you have exhibited and the milestones you have achieved in such a short time in carrying out the task of digitization of the youths of the state. There is a need for this success story to be spread all over the nooks and cranny of the state and the world over, and as the network of choice,we are here to partner with you” he added. Dr. Amadi, in his response warmly welcomed the NABTEB Chief to her State of origin and pledged that the good works of the 3R administration to see to it that Imo is placed on the digital world map will be actialised. He appreciated her kind gesture of developing a special and enhanced module for learners in the skillupimo project. ” There is an oasis in the desert, something good is happening in Imo, we need the narrative of the stories told in Imo to reflect this great change, and partnership with you fits into the 4th and 6th cardinal pillars of our Imo Digital Economy Agenda 2022-2026 policy thrust” he remarked to the FRCN team.The 4th pillar being the Advocacy pillar while the 6th is the partnership and Collaboration pillar. In keeping with the mission of the Ministry, Partnership and Collaboration with the Private sector, corporate bodies, agencies etc is salient in building Smart cities, leveraging digital technologies to drive governance, innovation, entrepreurship, value creation and prosperity for all. Imo State Government through the Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government has trained 5,000 youths in the First cohort of the SkillupImo project and has embarked on the training of an additional 15,000 youths in the ongoing cohort 2 training.

In keeping with the vision of making Imo the leading digital economy of the nation and having delivered on the promises made on the flag off of the Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government SkillUpImo Project, the Governor of Imo State, Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodinma is set to commence the second segment of the SkillupImo programme. Worthy of note is that His Excellency Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma places high premium on the SkillUp Imo project due to its potential of achieving the triple objectives of positioning IMO state as the digital skills hub of Africa, tackling Youth unemployment , diversifying and building states digital economy. With the actualization of equipping 5,000 Imolites with digital skills and subsequently, various digital tools at a flamboyant Graduation Ceremony held at Landmark event Centre on the 22nd of February 2023, little wonder that the slots in the Cohort 2 of the SkillupImo project have been heavily oversubscribed. Consequent upon the success of the cohort 1 training programme with some of the graduands already monetizing their skills as techpreneurs while others have been linked to various employment opportunities, 15,000 Imolites are now jostling for 10,000 slots at the ongoing enrollment. Speaking in an interview, The Honourable Commissioner for Digital Economy and E-Government, Dr. Chimezie Amadi confirmed that pre- admission Assement has been conducted for over 15, 000 prospective trainees who registered for the Digital skills training. In his words “ Unlike in Cohort 1, we had to conduct the pre-admission Assessment to enable us sieve the huge size of prospective trainees and ensure that only committed learners are admitted and enrolled in the right programme. We learnt a lot of lessons in the course of managing Cohort 1 and the introduction of Pre-admission assessment is one of the ways designed to Improve our processes to meet the programme objective and achieve the intended outcome”. “Going by the extent of work we have done with respect to process re-engineering, Cohort 2 promises an enhanced learning experience for both Learner and Instructors”, the Commissioner added. In Cohort 2, Four additional Learning Centers viz : Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Imo Polytechnic Omuma, University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Umuagwo, K. O Mbadiwe University, Ideato, has been established to compliment the existing Centers at the Ministry of Digital economy and E- Government headquarter office , Imo State University , Alvan Ikoku College of Education , Polytechnic Nekede and Claretian University all geared towards enhancing access to digital skills learning for IMO Youths across the state. Dr. Amadi further disclosed that the training will cover various sheds of soft and hard digital skills. The honourable commissioner unveiled that the ministry will be partnering with Tech companies like Cisco, Hauwei and Microsoft as well as the National Examining Board for Technical Education (NABTEB) for certification and value optimization of the programme. Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government conducted Pre-admission assessment tests on the 23rd of March and will be issuing admission letters online on the 28th of March to successful candidates.Onboarding of admitted students will be carried out on the 29th of March at their various centres while the Orientation Programme will hold online on the 31st of March 2023. The SkillUpImo Project is rooted in the First Pillar of the Imo Digital Economy Agenda ( I.D.E.A) 2022-2026 on Digital Literacy and Skills with the objective of positioning Imo as Africa’s Skills Hub through massive training of 300,000 Imolites in new innovative and industry 4.0 skills set that equips them to be productively employed or self-employed required to align in a digitally evolving world. Sandra OparaP.R.O

The Imo state government through its Honourable Commissioner for Digital Economy and E-Government, has promised to meet global best practices in the provision of services and enabling environment for startups in Imo. Speaking at an <p>Interactive Session among the government, young tech developers, online marketers, and several other industry leaders, the Honourable Commissioner, Dr. Chimezie Amadi assured participants that a Co-Work Space (Digital Hub) comprising facilities like desk space, power, and internet data, will be provided for startups in Owerri the state capital. He explained that startups were actually experiments, and in this case, by young school leavers; who need the conducive work environment whether free or for a small fee to take away the many burdens orchestrated by individual private funding of such experiments. The interactive session which was hosted by the Imo State Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government, attracted several government officials like Barr. Rex Anunobi, the Honourable Commissioner for Transport in the state; Special Advisers on Youth Affairs, Public Enlightenment, and Urban Water Supply; and startup ecosystem leaders like Messrs. Godwin Chike Ebere, Ikenna Okechukwu Hector and Chukwuma Anurunkem. It also had in attendance, 100 young tech developers, and monitors. It was held on the sidelines of the first ever Imo edition of the Cyberspace Awareness Month Campaign, in partnership with Cisco Networking Academy at the Imo Technology and Innovations Center. Beyond these however, and in my own view, I understand that a Free or For-A-Small-Fee Co-Work Space environment providing the above government assurances, will also afford the users of such facilities the smart opportunity to seamlessly interface and network with similar or other on-going experiments. A situation where a user, say a web developer, takes up a work space, and is in need of a graphics design; meanwhile there is also a graphics designer using the same I’ll hub; the web developer may approach the graphics designer for assistance to get his/her task done. They get the point, work out terms and agree to collaborate or partner with each other. Points of understanding might include among several, a share in profits or credits, or returnable favors at the same or other time. However they decide, fact remains that there is an increased productivity among the startups who are mainly the youth, and who now find that they are never alone. The same analogy may also refer to a tech developer and a brand marketer; and other fields. Indeed, it was a pleasant surprise to participants and other guests at that forum, to find that already, a well equipped and functional tech and digital innovations hub and workspace had been in existence in the state for two years now. The hub/workspace which is sited at the Imo Technology and Innovations Center (I.T.I.C) located at the former ‘ICAPS’ premises at Egbu Road, Owerri, was venue for the interaction. ITIC is a public private initiative engineered by the state ‘digital’ governor Hope Uzodinma’s administration in partnership with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (C.I.E). It is overseen by the Imo State Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government (MDEE-G) with the very digital savvy Dr. Chimezie Paulinus Amadi as Commissioner. It is also worthy of note that the MDEE-G is a new creation of the state government, and the first-of-its-kind to be so created in the nation. It has already brought the entire startup community in Imo state on one page to reap from common benefits. One of such benefits is the partnership Training Program by the Ministry in conjunction with Cisco Networking Academy to be delivered for free to Imolites on Monday, October 17, 2022 at Bedrock Knowledge Center, #14, M.C.C. Road, Owerri by 10am. According to a speech presented by Dr. Chimezie Amadi’s at the earlier cybersecurity awareness session, beneficiaries in Imo State will be provided with free online cybersecurity training to educate them to spot hacking attempts and illegitimate emails and avoid potential incidents. At the end of the training, learners who actively participate to pass the Introduction to Cybersecurity Course and Cyber Essentials will be rewarded with a Cisco Digital Badge as well as a Certificate of Completion of training. The Commissioner explained: “A Cisco Digital Badge is an emblem distinguishing an achievement that can be shared and validated digitally on Linked In, Twitter, Facebook, Xing, via Email, shared link, embed code into web page or blog”.

The Imo state government through its Honourable Commissioner for Digital Economy and E-Government has promised to meet global best practices in providing services and enabling the environment for startups in Imo. Speaking at an Interactive Session among the government, young tech developers, online marketers, and several other industry leaders, the Honourable Commissioner, Dr Chimezie Amadi assured participants that a Co-Work Space (Digital Hub) comprising facilities like desk space, power, and internet data, will be provided for startups in Owerri the state capital. He explained that startups were actually experiments, and in this case, by young school leavers; who need a conducive work environment whether free or for a small fee to take away the many burdens orchestrated by individual private funding of such experiments. The interactive session which was hosted by the Imo State Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government attracted several government officials like Barr. Rex Anunobi, the Honourable Commissioner for Transport in the state; Special Advisers on Youth Affairs, Public Enlightenment, and Urban Water Supply; and startup ecosystem leaders like Messrs. Godwin Chike Ebere, Ikenna Okechukwu Hector and Chukwuma Anurunkem. It also had in attendance, 100 young tech developers, and monitors. It was held on the sidelines of the first-ever Imo edition of the Cyberspace Awareness Month Campaign, in partnership with Cisco Networking Academy at the Imo Technology and Innovations Center. Beyond these, however, and in my own view, I understand that a Free or For-A-Small-Fee Co-Work Space environment providing the above government assurances, will also afford the users of such facilities the smart opportunity to seamlessly interface and network with similar or other ongoing experiments. A situation where a user, say a web developer, takes up a workspace, and is in need of a graphics design; meanwhile, there is also a graphics designer using the same I’ll hub; the web developer may approach the graphics designer for assistance to get his/her task done. They get the point, work out terms and agree to collaborate or partner with each other. Issues of understanding might include among several, a share in profits or credits, or returnable favours at the same or other time. However they decide, the fact remains that there is increased productivity among the startups which are mainly the youth, who now find that they are never alone. The same analogy may also refer to a tech developer and a brand marketer; and other fields. Indeed, it was a pleasant surprise to participants and other guests at that forum, to find that already, a well-equipped and functional tech and digital innovations hub and workspace had been in existence in the state for two years now. The hub/workspace which is sited at the Imo Technology and Innovations Center (I.T.I.C) located at the former ‘ICAPS premises at Egbu Road, Owerri, was the venue for the interaction. ITIC is a public-private initiative engineered by the state ‘digital’ governor Hope Uzodinma’s administration in partnership with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (C.I.E). It is overseen by the Imo State Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government (IMDEE-G) with the very digital-savvy Dr Chimezie Paulinus Amadi as Commissioner. It is also worthy of note that the IMDEE-G is a new creation of the state government, and the first of its kind to be so created in the nation. It has already brought the entire startup community in Imo state on one page to reap the expected benefits. One such benefit is the partnership Training Program by the Ministry in conjunction with Cisco Networking Academy to be delivered for free to Imolites on Monday, October 17, 2022, at Bedrock Knowledge Center, #14, M.C.C. Road, Owerri by 10 am. According to a speech presented by Dr Chimezie Amadi’s at the earlier cybersecurity awareness session, beneficiaries in Imo State will be provided with free online cybersecurity training to educate them to spot hacking attempts and illegitimate emails and avoid potential incidents. At the end of the training, learners who actively participate to pass the Introduction to Cybersecurity Course and Cyber Essentials will be rewarded with a Cisco Digital Badge as well as a Certificate of Completion of training. The Commissioner explained: “A Cisco Digital Badge is an emblem distinguishing an achievement that can be shared and validated digitally on Linked In, Twitter, Facebook, Xing, via Email, shared link, embed code into a web page or blog”.