Ambode Approves Monthly Stipends for RSW Interns

Funmi Ogundare

The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has approved the payment of N30,000 as monthly stipends to ReadySetWork (RSW) interns who have been placed in various organisations for a six-month paid internships, as well as N8 million in seed funding for the top five winners of the RSW business pitch competition, whose businesses will be placed in incubation.

The beneficiaries will commence their internships and incubation on March 1.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Mr. Obafela Bank-Olemoh, who disclosed this in a statement, said the interns were part of the 2,000 final year students from six tertiary institutions in the state that took part in the 2017 edition of the 13-week intensive entrepreneurship and employability training programme.

He said the programme, which held its pilot in 2016 with 500 final year students from three tertiary institutions in the state, was scaled up in 2017 to 12,000 students from six institutions including Lagos State University (LASU), University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Lagos State College of Health Technology, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, and Michael Otedola College of Primary Education.

“In 2016, we placed 76 students on internships with partner organisations like PwC, SystemSpecs, Total, GTBank, FCMB and Access Bank, who provided six-month paid internship opportunities for RSW graduates,” he said, adding that the governor has further expanded the scheme by approving funds to place an additional 100 RSW graduates on internship positions with SMEs in Lagos with monthly stipends provided by the government. “In 2017, we were able to scale up and secure internship slots in about 180 organisations across the state for 1,000 top performing RSW graduates. The placement process involved a series of internship fairs where companies had the opportunity to interview and select their interns from a pool of qualified candidates.”

Bank-Olemoh added that preparation for the 2018 edition has commenced saying, “this year, we are further expanding the programme to train 25,000 students. 5,000 final year students will participate in the 13-week face-to-face classes, while 20,000 students in their penultimate year will take part in the RSW online academy.

The programme is also increasing the number of participating schools to accommodate more students. The new institutions are Yaba College of Technology, Federal College of Education (Technical) and a private institution, Caleb University, as the special adviser noted that the inclusion of new schools is in line with the administration’s commitment to ensuring that every student that graduates from any tertiary institution in state is prepared for the world of work as an employer of labour or a value-adding employee.

He called on professionals from various sectors to join the RSW faculty, the largest volunteer faculty in Nigeria, as facilitators for the 2018 training programme.

“The RSW faculty recruitment has already kicked-off officially on February 22 and the application portal will be accessible on the programme website - www.readysetwork. com.ng.”