‘Why we train people in skills’
Comrade Okey Nwuche is the president and founder of CCN Entrepreneurship Institute (Center for Innovation and Creativity), in Amawbia, Awka, the Anambra State capital. He said the institute which started three years ago with a student trained in Digital Photography, currently boasts of over 1,200 students.
When this what establishment? did you institute informed start and its
The institute was set up in 2007 as a training school for school leavers but later assumed the status of a Training Institute certified by Corporate Affairs Commission in 2013. We provide holistic entrepreneurship mentoring to Nigerian youths with focus on developing human capacity through the provision of sound technical, entrepreneurial and employable skills.
I discovered that Nigeria has suffered from two challenges -’unemployment and unemployability’.
Unfortunately, most Nigerians think that unemployment is the problem we have. The key issue we are suffering here is youth and graduate unemployability. This is a situation where someone who has attained formal education lacks the mental, psychological competence to handle assigned duties.
We started with one student who was trained in Digital Photography in 2007. However, today we have in session over 1,200 students.
What are some of the challenges you face at the commencement of the institute?
Life generally is full of challenges. So, setting up and managing the institute won’t be an exception. The basic challenge has been to develop infrastructure for the school. And when you talk of this, of course, you are talking of funding.We were able to overcome the challenges by simply adopting innovative strategies that created wealth for us. Even now that the institute has changed to become a polytechnic, we are still carrying out more innovations to meet up with infrastructural challenges of providing classroom blocks, hostels and entrepreneurship incubation platforms.
What is the basic entry requirement for the students?
The school provides alternative form of education that will cater for the interest of school leavers who wish to acquire demonstrable practical skills to secure employment or generate employment; persons seeking for career paths that do not need university degrees. That is about our training arm in the school.
What courses are available in the institute and what are their durations?
We train people in skills namely: Welding and Fabrication, Aluminium Framing, Poultry and Fishery, Leather Works, Digital Photography, Film Production, Catering, Tilling and Cosmetics. These skills which take a period of 3 months for basic and 6 months for advanced, are handled under the training arm of the Center for Innovation and Creativity (CIC). Conversely, the academic course normally takes two years like every other diploma programme in Nigerian Polytechnic system.
What are your projections/ plans both for the institute and the students in the years ahead?
Our vision is to be a leading provider of entrepreneurial and job creation skills to Nigerian youths with the most qualified team, providing challenging career opportunities and business experiences to teeming