TWYI partners Oracle Academy, others to train undergraduates on app creation

A nonprofit organisation, The Workplace Youth Initiative (TWYI), said it partnered with Oracle Academy and other tech-based institutions to train undergraduates from Nigerian tertiary institutions to create applications.

TWYI in a statement said the partnership with Oracle was aimed at contributing to young people’s development which is expected to reduce Nigeria’s unemployment rate.

“These are indeed unprecedented times with the event of a raging global pandemic, the current youth unemployment rate in Nigeria hitting an all-time high at about 50%, and the projection that Africa will have the largest population of youths in the world by 2050,” TWYI said.

“This is a similar reality for many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and so it has become crucial that African youths become equipped with the right skills that would give them competitive advantage in the future.”

The APEX Bootcamp tagged ORACODE 4.0 was held between 23 to 24 of March 2021. The training attracted students from different universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education across Nigeria as well as East Africa.

Oracode 4.0 was the fourth edition of the training and the first one to be held virtually due to the COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings. The previous editions were held in TWYI’s training lab with Oracle Academy being the main sponsor.

TWYI said the training will help “bridge the existing skills gap between the youths and the workplace as well as teach them entrepreneurial skills.

Some of the institutions in the partnership with TWYI include Oracle Academy, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Nigeria Association of Computing Students (NACOS) that provides avenues for students in IT-related fields to connect and develop their skills.

TWYI said the partnership is expected to collaborate and develop the skills of undergraduates to build functional enterprise apps with low code using the Oracle APEX platform.

The low coding skills acquired by the attendees through the training will offer them an opportunity to leverage on their new and marketable skills to achieve mini-projects, TWYI said.

The NGO noted that the skills acquired will help students raise funds that can augment their allowances and create jobs for them in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector after graduation.

NACOS national president Abolade Toyeeb Olamilekan said the initiative was timely and stated that an individual does not necessarily need to be a programmer to be able to create solutions and solve problems.

He maintained that Oracle APEX was the low code platform of choice when building scalable, responsive, and secure enterprise applications.

NCS executive secretary Dr. Ayoola Iyiola, commended TWYI and Oracle Academy for spearheading the programme and encouraged the students in attendance to take full advantage of the privilege presented to them in view of their training participation.