200 teenagers in Ibadan get vocational training scholarship

200 teenagers that just finished their secondary school education has been given scholarship to study a vocational training of their choice as part of the annual empowerment programme of a nongovernmental organization, the Human of Substance Empowerment Initiative. YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that the 200 were chosen out of thousands that heeded the call to attend a seminar for being the first 200 to arrive at the venue.

As part of its vision of youth and women empowerment in order to create a better society and based on the belief of its founder that in order to reduce the number of youths that are vulnerable to peer pressure and crime, everyone must have a way of making ends meet, the Human of Substance Empowerment Initiative (HOSEI), a nongovernmental organization founded by a lawyer, Abiade Olawanle Abiola, rescued 200 teenagers from idleness and the temptation of falling into crime while awaiting admission by giving them free six months scholarship for vocational training and mentorship.

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The scholarship project is an annual one and the 200 teenagers are the fifth set of beneficiaries as the organization had in previous years given same opportunity to four sets consisting of 100 beneficiaries every year.

The number increased from 100 to 200 due to the plea from teenagers that do not make the list even after getting to the venue in the early hours of the morning. It started with 50 beneficiaries but quickly increased to 100 the second year as a result of high demands and huge turnout of youths that are eager to benefit from the programme.

The 200 beneficiaries that were selected from thousands of youths from local governments across Ibadan on an early bird basis were all secondary school graduates from public schools that are awaiting admission into institutions of higher learning and the first 200 to arrive at the venue of the empowerment programme were the lucky beneficiaries who will in the next six months become independent teenagers with a source of livelihood.

And in the next six months, the 200 secondary school graduates, rather than stay idle while waiting to gain admission into institutions of higher learning; will have a turnaround of fortune through the benevolence HOSEI. They will be able to undergo trainings in bead and jewelry making, catering, fashion designing, photography and multimedia works, video recording, graphics and decoration, make up, hair dressing, catering among other trades.

Abiade’s vision is to give as many youths as possible a chance not only to dream but to also pursue their dream and rewrite their own stories in a way that will set them on the path of independence. And for these 200 teenagers like previous beneficiaries, contact with HOSEI is a life changing experience.

For the new set, it was indeed a matter of many were called but few are chosen as the most determined of the teeming thousands that attended the event got into the programme after various degrees of sacrifices like sleeping at the event centre while some were escorted to the venue before daybreak.

HOSEI is expecting that six months from now, the 200 youths that had no plans or hope for their future would have evolved into independent youths that can stand for themselves and their rights and also fend for themselves and be useful to the community.

Barrister Abiola had been taking in 100 youths annually to mentor them to take charge of their lives by training them, creating opportunities for them, taking them on a road to self discovery and generally addressing their situations

HOSEI further gives youths improved access to resources and transformed their consciousness, beliefs, values, and attitudes with the I can and I will attitude which allowed those that could not stand up for themselves develop confidence to stand tall.

For these young people, the journey to a new path in life just commenced.