The Executive Director and founder of the NGO, Comrade Sunday Archer gave the indication while exchanging views with newsmen at the 2024 annual convention and the official launch of the organisation's maiden calendar, held at the weekend in Enugu.
He called for financial aid from government at all levels, including public spirited individuals, to help the organisation to procure equipments and secure a more befitting office space for its operations.
His words, "what we are doing here is to give out the best of what we have to these children. Our cardinal goal is to harness the hidden potentials of these young talented individuals and help them to establish themselves in an ICT-driven society. You know it is a computer age and no one would like to be left behind. We have been doing this for the past one year and God has been helping us since we started."
"Our major constraint is funds. So that is why we are calling for assistance. For instance, we don't have computers, our office space is not enough for our operations, and it is a rented apartment," he lamented.
Comrade Archer appreciated parents and guardians for availing their children and wards the opportunity to benefit from the free training programs of the organisation, adding that the programs were designed to advance the knowledge of the trainees in ICT and Printing Technology.
According to him, "what we do here is capacity building. At this age one cannot come to tell you, I have no knowledge of computer. It is now a digital world and we all have to join the moving train. When we were in the university we used the libraries for our research works, but today with your computer you can stay in your house to do whatever research you need to do and complete your work. After school, you don't wait for government to give you job, with your computer you can employ yourself and even employ others."
The chairman of One Mind Friends Empowerment Foundation, OMFEF, Chief David Ekeh explained that the organisation is poised to produce young Nigerians who would be versed in the knowledge and application of modern technologies for economic sustainability and self reliance.
Chief Eke disclosed that over one hundred beneficiaries of the free training programs of the organisation, were basically skilled in two key areas of computer programming and Printing Technology.
He said, "you can see the children who have been performing in different capacities. These children are wonderful, they can operate any form of computer, do anything with computer. Some of them print calendars, some print posters, just anything. They are wonderfully bright."
Earlier in a remark, the chairman of the occasion, Mr. Ikechukwu Umeh thanked me NGO for taking the responsibility of catching the children young. He said the convention which also marked the official launch of the organisation's maiden calendar was also an opportunity to showcase their individual talents.
Mr. Umeh advised parents and guardians to play supportive roles in encouraging the organisation to advance the course of developing the potentials in the children for self actualisation.
In an address on the occasion, the Coordinator of Virtual Peer Learning Hub, VPLH in Enugu State, Engr. Okechukwu Chukwuemeka observed that the event was unique, just as he said that the training programs came at the appropriate time.
He described the founder of the NGO and facilitator of the training programs, Comrade Sunday Archer, as a multi talented personality, who had established himself through his personal efforts and hard work.
"The Founder of One Mind Friends Empowerment Foundation and facilitator of our reasons of being here today, is a multi talented man. It may surprise you to know that Archer was only a shoe maker. So I find in him, a man whose life is worthy of emulation, because he single handedly built himself and rose from nobody to somebody," he recalled.
He promised to assist in boosting the image of the NGO, and to ensure that it is taken to an enviable height.
The event featured the official launch of the organisation's maiden calendar and presentation of certificates to over eighty-six graduands of the training programs.
