Group Tours Varsities On Change The Tide Initiative

A non-governmental body that taggs itself, Funky Four Foundation, has begun sensitisation tour in universities around Port Harcourt to educate students on the need to use their skills for self reliance.
The tour is in collaboration with the Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC) and is an advocacy programme to various universities within the nine States of the Niger Delta region.
Speaking to newsmen on the programme titled, ”Change The Tide Initiative”, the Director of Operations of the foundation, Dr. Michael Adagogo Ogolo, stated that the event was put together to encourage students to identify and develop their individual talents and be skilful while pursuing their studies.
Dr. Ogolo believed that this would enhance their independence and self reliance after graduation.
He explained that it would also enable them to be able to employ others, instead of going searching endlessly for white collar jobs, which might not be easy to come by, due to the high rate of unemployment from the hard economy of the Nation.
“The idea of Change The Tide Initiative of the Funky Four Foundation in conjunction with NDDC, as the sponsor, is to encourage undergraduates in the universities not to look down on their talents, as most of them are highly talented, in terms of music, acting, comedy and the creative economy.
He said, “Creative economy means, going about, using what God has given to you as a talent to fend for yourself and equally employing others. We use ourselves, the funky four as examples. To those of us whose parents were not able to sponsor our education, we used our talents in music, drama, comedy and other skills to train ourselves, pay rents, even assisted our parents with some financial needs and employed one or two persons that followed us to run around, thereby creating employment, which they in turn emulated by employing others as well.”
Ogolo stated that skills in the entertainment sector have become big in various fields; as comedians, and actors, musicians and make money.
By mastering a skill, he explained that while in the university they can be able to create job for yourself and become entrepreneurs.
“We keep telling people that there are no jobs, and that is the reason you should develop your talent to becoming a skill so that you can grow yourself to become big by being self employed. “
Encouraging the young students, he stressed that those with skills already have jobs, as all they need is to develop, nurture them to build businesses, create jobs for the Niger Delta region.
According to a member of the group, Mr. Tekena Iyalla, who is also one of the Directors of the NGO, the title, ‘Change The Tide Initiative’ was chosen for the shift in the creative industry which allows creators to combine studies and work.
Tekena told young artistes that school and education will nuture them and improve their skills so they can be able to create jobs and employ others.
He regretted that in the Niger Delta a lot of youths waste their God given talents, and advised them to see how they ca use the advocacy to better their lives.
Informing them of changes in society , Iyalla said certificates would only serve as back ups, asserting that they were optimistic that they had reduced unemployment from the sensitization.
Both Ogolo and Iyalla narrated how they gave back to the society, a situation which informed why the NGO was formed and registered on the heels of their satire programme, ‘Funky 4’ which is running on radio stations for 18 years now.
In the phase two of the event that would come up from next January to March, about fifteen to twenty students would be picked randomly from each of the 27 schools that would be visited across the region.
Beneficiaries would be camped for a week, which would be done in three zones, and prominent artistes who had made names in different areas, like Ali Baba, 2Face Idibia and others would be invited to tutor them on how to be self reliant, using their personal experiences as case study.
Once they complete their mentorship, the NDDC has assured of sponsoring their trainings on their different fields and provi de start up packages would be given to boost them on their skills
The members of the Foundation also comprise of Kunle Oluwole and Daniel Nworka disclosed that they had visited the universities of Port Harcourt, Calabar, Uyo Benin, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Niger Delta University, Abraka, Federal University of Technology, Owerri and several others, out of the twenty seven that were mapped out.
They commended the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC) Dr. Samuel Ogbuku and his management team for the initial push given to them on the initiative and urged them not to relent in their efforts of sponsoring the talent training so they would be able to get something to fall back to.
The initiative is aimed at reducing unemployment, possible cases of depressions, graduate suicide , social ills and unemployment in the country.

By: Kevin Nengia