Represented by his Special Assistant on youth and sports, Ezekiel James, the chairman said the training became necessary after it was found that many students from the council failed UTME owing to their limited experience in the use of computers. Sani promised to offer a tertiary education scholarship to any student who scored 240 points and above in UTME.
Charles Dyaji, leader of Phoenix group, and the facilitators of the training challenged the students not to be intimidated by the size of the computers since they were already used to operating smartphones. Dyaji advised them to always skip difficult questions to be able to effectively utilise the time allocated to them for the examination.
Some of the applicants who spoke with newsmen after the training appreciated the council chairman for the opportunity to have an idea how what the actual exam will look like. During the training, the students were made to log in for the exams, select their subjects and answer questions from a dummy in preparation for the actual examination.
Speaking on the importance of the training, Sani said, “We don’t want our students to fail the UTME due to their limited knowledge of computer usage, that’s why we’ve taken the responsibility to train them to be proficient in the use of computers.” He also expressed his commitment to improving the quality of education in the local government area.
The Chairman commended the facilitators of the training, the Phoenix Group, for their support and commitment to training the students. The students were urged to make the most of the opportunity given to them by taking the training seriously and being confident while writing the exams.
According to Sani, the local government is committed to improving education in the area, and this training is one of the ways to achieve that. He also advised other local government areas in the state to emulate the initiative to improve the standard of education in their respective areas.
The participants expressed their appreciation for the training, saying it was a great opportunity for them to learn more about computer and how it works. They were excited to have access to computers and appreciated the opportunity to practise with the computers ahead of the UTME.