Almost a year after its stoppage, the Lagos State government has relaunched the Ready Set Work (RSW) programme.
This flagship programme prepares final year students in tertiary institutions for the world of work empowering them with entrepreneurship skills and business development experience.
Its last set of beneficiaries graduated in October 2018 and new sets have had to wait for a new registration to open.
With the winding down of the Akinwumi Ambode Administration after he lost his political party’s ticket for a second term, the programme initiated by his Special Adviser on Education (SAE), Mr Obafela Bank-Olemoh seized to exist.
But last Thursday, his successor as SAE under the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration, Tokunbo Wahab took it up but with some modifications in its coverage.
He started with a sensitisation tour of the participating tertiary institutions beginning with the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo.
Unlike the previous editions, which eight schools benefited from, only four schools will benefit from this year’s edition.
In the three years it previously operated, participants in RSW have grown steadily peaking at 37,500 cumulatively, comprising 7,500 in final year and 30,000 in their penultimate year.
Mr Wahab said the government brought back the programme because of the testimonies recorded in the previous editions, which he said are in tandem with the vision of the current administration.
“But we will make some changes here and there to make the programme more impactful and beneficial to participants and the state at large,” he added.
He noted that this year’s edition which is fourth in the series, would accommodate only 5000 graduating students across disciplines, and from only four schools namely LASU, Caleb University, Imota, Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu and the Lagos State College of Nursing, Midwifery and Public Health, Igando.
“We want to test run with those four schools first because we are at the moment confronted with time and space constraints. We will run the physical class for six weeks and e-class for another six weeks making 12 weeks all together unlike the previous editions that took 13 weeks.
“And after this year, we will begin to accommodate more schools until we are able to accommodate all tertiary institutions in the state including University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka and Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) and Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED) and so forth.
“It is not that we are discriminating against any school by this arrangement. We have all tertiary schools in our plans but we are to give priority first to our own schools, especially LASU and then extend to other schools in subsequent editions.”
Wahab, who announced that the registration for participation would be done solely online and for only one week while class was to start on 25th November, however, urged the intending participants to give the programme a deserved attention.
In his remarks at the event, LASU Vice-Chancellor, Olanrewaju Fagbohun, confirmed that RSW is really an eye-opener for students concerning the world of work after graduation and life generally.
Fagbohun, a law professor, noted that LASU would continue to give its full support towards the success of the programme.
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