The Africa Centre of Excellence on Technology Enhanced Learning (ACETEL) have collaborated with the Centre for Food Technology and Research (CEFTER), Benue State University, Makurdi, to organise a five (5) day capacity building training on IT Essentials for persons who have interest in developing their I.T skills in the state.
The five (5) day training workshop held from Monday July 22nd to Friday July 26th 2024, at the CEFTER complex, Makurdi, Benue State, with both physical and virtual participants attending the training from Cameroon, Kenya and South Sudan.
The training aims to give students access to high quality training on IT Essentials, to help them stay current with the latest IT trends and practices, as well as to foster creativity, advocating for policies that support digital inclusivity, access and resilience.
Participants seeking a career in computer hardware, software and networking skills, those who want to gain computer and mobile device hardware, software configuration and troubleshooting skills and those preparing for the Comp TIAA+ Certification, received training in the various areas to enable them forge ahead in their chosen career path.
During the opening ceremony on Monday, The Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) Technology, Innovation and Research (TIR), Prof. Godwin Akper who represented the Vice Chancellor(VC) of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Olufemi Peters, while giving the VC’s opening remarks, urged participants to attend the entire training sessions in order for them to be able to achieve all the goals the training has to offer.
While declaring the workshop open, Akper expressed hope that the training exercise will empower participants to use technology in their learning endeavours.
The Centre for Food Technology and Research (CEFTER) Centre Leader, Prof. Barnabas Ikyo, in his remarks said the workshop will give students access to high quality training on IT Essentials to help them stay current with the latest IT trends and practices.
“As a center of excellence in Agriculture and food Innovation we are not Jack of all trade, so we felt that we should call the experts to also share their experience with us by training some of our people on IT Essentials and the good thing is that they are in partnership with CISCO which is a globally recognized IT organization so this group of persons that are been trained today will take home a certificate from CISCO that will give them the opportunity to be employed globally anywhere in the world.”
The ACETEL Centre Director, Prof. Grace Jokthan, represented by the Deputy Centre Director, Dr. Johnson Opateye, while giving his remarks, noted that IT essentials is necessary for everyone to acquire that dexterity that is needful for the effective use, effective manipulation and also to be able to repair their computer, as he also noted the importance of virtualization in IT.
He said “The training will enable the participants to organize their data on the system so as for them to report virtually and physically for people to also look at
Opateye said participants exposure to the workshop will enable them acquire what it takes for them to be able to troubleshoot software problems, hardware problems on their system and to be able to install all operating systems available to them.
Throughout the five day intensive training workshop where series of IT modules were taught, students were engaged in hands on practicals to enable them gain understanding of the training.
Speaking to Ruth Joseph, a participant at the training, on what she has learnt , she said “I have learnt so much, I learnt about software applications that will really help you perform better with your mobile phones, I learnt about software applications that will help you manage your space, manage applications on your laptop and devices, before now I was wondering how some large files and information were being managed as it concerns schools like CEFTER, I was wondering how they get our information, but with the courses we handled today, I have come to realise that there is a device called the hyper-visor where large files can be stored.”
“for my mobile device I have learnt to keep it more secured, with the information I have gotten here, I believe I will do better with my digital security.”
Also speaking with another participant, Tersoo Anjila, on what the training means to him, he said, “Essential skills on IT is where the world is going, especially for Nigeria universities, we need to incorporate this to enhance learning.”
Another participant said “I have learned a lot in this training, we really learned on networking and internet, we did some cable connections, twisted cables and straight cables for internet and it was amazing.”
The training ended with a closing ceremony on Friday, 26th July 2024.
While declaring the workshop closed, The DVC TIR, Prof. Godwin Akper who represented the NOUN VC, Prof. Olufemi Peters, thanked the facilitators who impacted the IT skills in the students, he also, he appreciated the participants and urged them to keep improving themselves by acquiring advanced IT skills, he also appreciated the Vice Chancellor of Benue State University, Prof. Tor Joe Iorapuu, for hosting ACETEL and CEFTER Centre leader for offering ACETEL their Centre to hold the training.
Dr. Opateye, while giving the Centre Director’s remarks, said “she is very happy with all of us and she really appreciate you.”
“We have undergone the IT Essentials training and some of the things that we have been exposed to here are some things that we have known but majority of them are alien to you, we have given you the foundation and you really need to build on that.” he said.
The Secretary of the Centre, Dr. Scholastica Banka, representing the CEFTER Centre leader, Prof. Barnabas Ikyo, in her closing remarks, thanked ACETEL for coming to CEFTER for the IT training to add value to the Centre.
She expressed hope that participants have learnt something significant in the last few days.
“For those of us who are teachers trained teachers we believe that learning has not taken place until there is a change in Behavior or a change in attitude or a change in action so we really hope that the last few days that you had in this place everything that you learned something touched your spirit something touched your soul something touched your mind something touched your head and you made some responsible decisions that in your work and in your activities, going forward, every single thing that you learned in the last few days would add value to what you do.”
She thanked the facilitators for impacting knowledge in the participants.
Facilitators that took the training are; Mr. Abu Kadafa, Mr. Abdulgaffer Bello, Mr. Anthony and Mr. Victor Akinnibosun.
Certificates were issued to participants by the NOUN DVC TIR, Prof. Akper.
By: Loretta Edozie
Abuja