Plateau: College trains 2,000 youths on ICT, Robotics

ECWA International College of Technology (EICT), Jos has conducted free training for 2,000 youths on Information Communication Technology(ICT), and robotics, as part of efforts to promote technological growth.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the five-weeks intensive training programme, which was held in Jos, was rounded off on Wednesday.

In a brief speech at the closing ceremony of the training, Miss Dorcas Adamu, the Rector of the college,  said that the trainees were expected to step down the knowledge to others in their respective communities..

“We have trained people from Cameroon, Haiti, Niger, and many other countries; we are also working towards expanding the training to reach more people in more countries,” she said.

The Rector said that the Jos training, which was undertaken in collaboration with the Tangale Education Centre in Gombe, had 11 trainees from across the country.

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“What we want is trained them on various aspects of technology so that they can be pacesetters in their various communities,” she explained.

Dasaro urged the trainees to serve as change agents, collaborate and form a formidable network in order to achieve greater results.

In his remarks, the facilitator of the course, Mr Eric Black, an American engineer who is also a missionary in Nigeria, said that the training on robotics focused on raspberry pi and an introduction to assembly language and Labview.

He said that the training was to equip the participants with life skills to become self-reliant and experience the practical aspect of technology which was inadequate in Nigeria.

He commended the trainees for their dedication and zeal to learn, saying that the training was a tool to develop their communities and be ambassadors of Christ.

“They spend at least eight hours every day to learn the concept of robotics which also involves knowing electronic circuitry, different types of software and assembly language, among others.

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“This course is entirely practical and is equivalent to a 400 level engineering course. We want them to share their experience and make positive impact while preaching Christ to their various communities,” he said.

He explained that robotics deals with the design, construction, operation and application of robots while the raspberry pi was a series of small single board computers developed to promote teaching of basic computer science.

Black commended the organizers of the event for training youths irrespective of their religious affiliation, saying that it was a noble cause and should be adopted by other faith-based organizations.

Miss Dorcas Adamu, the only female participant, appreciated the missionary for facilitating the course and urged more females to overcome the phobia of engineering and technology courses by joining the field.

Also speaking to NAN, Abubakar Yusuf, another trainee, advised youths to strive to empower themselves to become future leaders of the country.

NAN reports that the trainees later presented to the college, security gadgets and robots which they constructed using the raspberry pi, as part of their projects.