NiRA@10 Focuses On Youths As Bedrock of Nation’s Development- Folayan

It has been a beehive of activity in the last few weeks, as stakeholders celebrate NiRA at 10.

Some of the activities lines up for the anniversary were a Youth Empowerment Programme and the NiRA Social media and TweetFEST competitions.

Giving account of the activities so far in NiRA's 78th e-newsletter, Reverend Sunday Folayan, NiRA President said that these events were to engender wealth creation and empowerment of our youths.

"The Youth Empowerment Program that held at the Muson Centre, Lagos was tailored for success, by keeping the context local.  The youths were captivated by the speakers and their presentations," he said.

The Program was declared open by Mr. Vincent Olatunji, acting director general, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), represented by Barr. Emmanuel Edet, NITDA’s Legal Adviser.

Deacon Chima Onyekwere, the Chairman, NiRA Board of Trustees presented the awards to the .ng Ambassadors.

Meanwhile, three speakers engaged the youths.

Mr. Niyi Yusuf, country managing director, Accenture Nigeria, spoke about “The Nigeria ICT Industry: Springboard for Entrepreneurship Development and Wealth Creation”.

He highlighted the significant enabling effect of ICT to the growth of other sectors of the economy and how technology provides global opportunities.

He pointed out the potentials of being a technology entrepreneur and cited examples of Nigerian entrepreneurs who have taken advantage of the emerging technology space.

Mr. Pascal Dike, the World President of Junior Chamber International (JCI), spoke on “Education and Economic Empowerment”.

He reminded the participants that education is empowerment to make choices and emboldens the youth to chase their dreams.

Also, Opeyemi Owoyemi, a serial Entrepreneur, the co-Founder Jobberman and WHOGOHOST, spoke on “Building online businesses and growing traffic, brand and revenue - Experience sharing from building Jobberman and WHOGOHOST”.

He elaborated on the fact that “Great things start small”.  He advised the youths to leverage on their existing networks, opportunities and technology to attract and keep customers.

Speaking further, Folayan recalled that two new .ng Ambassadors, Mr Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr “CFA” of Tech Trends on Channels Television and Mr Peter Ugwu of Nigeria CommunicationsWeek were presented with the .ng Ambassadors Awards that day.

"I want to express my appreciations to the Acting Director General NITDA, the Chairman NiRA Board of Trustees (BOT), the speakers, Mr. Shina Badaru, a member of the NIRA BOT, who played a key role in publicizing the event and other members of the NiRA BOT, NiRA Executive Board of Directors, the .ng Ambassadors, All the Youths who attended, our compere for the day, NIRA’s dependable Treasurer - Mr. Adebiyi Oladipo and Gentlemen of the Press.  Thank you all.

"These events for our youths have proven to be life changing, providing the launching pad for them to become successful entrepreneurs. We encourage everyone to start small, don’t give up. 'Just start doing it'. With the global Internet, with unlimited opportunities, the world is your market space. With your .ng domain name, the opportunities are abundant".

Also, NiRA Registrars Forum will hold today, Friday, 1st April 2016.

The Registrars Forum, according to the President, always provides opportunity to engage with our esteemed Registrars.

"The grand finale of the 10th Year Anniversary celebrations will be the .ng Web Award on Saturday 2nd April 2016 at Oriental Hotel Lagos. I look forward to meeting and greeting you at the event.

"It has been one successful year packed with activities, all projecting the .ng brand. Please mark 29th April 2016 on your Calendar, for the 2016 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of NIRA where we will give an account of our stewardship in the last one year. New members are welcome to register, and old members should please endeavour to pay their dues and regularize their membership," he said