…Achieves 1,500 Milestone

Nigeria’s pioneer virtual cinema and transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) streaming platform, Circuits, has unveiled plan to create one million jobs for young people in the country’s digital creative sector.

Recall that since its debut in December 2024, Circuits has rolled out bold initiatives aimed at empowering young Nigerians, including its flagship program, LaunchPad.

The program is designed to bridge the skills and opportunity gap in the creative and related industries.

“The creative sector is a goldmine for employment, but too many young people have been shut out simply because they lack opportunities,” said Imade Bibowei-Osuobeni, Chief Operating Officer of Circuits.

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“With LaunchPad, we are proving that with minimal support, they can move from unemployment to earning meaningful income in record time.”

The program, which commenced in March, already has over 1,600 participants from across Nigeria.

According to Bibowei-Osuobeni, more than 400 have secured internship placements, many of whom are now earning steady monthly incomes.

“What we are doing is giving participants hands-on experience in digital marketing, customer relations, social media management, video editing, and other critical soft skills,” she explained.

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“We don’t want a generation that is just ‘occupied’—we want a generation that is empowered,” she emphasized. “This program is a pathway to meaningful work where young people are not just doing tasks, but building futures.”

Currently, interns are spread across 26 states, with Circuits partnering government agencies to scale its reach. The target, according to the COO, is to empower one million youths within the next 18 months.

“We have the data to show this works,” Bibowei-Osuobeni said. “Most young people already own a smartphone and can access the internet. With the right mentorship and structure, those same phones can become tools for learning, working, and earning.”

Calling for broader support, she added: “Government cannot do it alone, and frankly, this doesn’t need billions to succeed. What we need are partnerships, endorsements, and state-level adoption. Imagine what happens when each state backs its young people in this way—we will have solved half of Nigeria’s unemployment challenge.”

She concluded with a rallying call: “This is not charity. This is an investment in Nigeria’s future. Every young person we lift through LaunchPad has the potential to lift others. That is how we create a ripple effect of growth and prosperity.”

The Bauchi state government has faulted an allegation that education projects are poorly executed in the state, insisting that the allegation was baseless and unfounded.

Dr Muhammed Lawal, the state Commissioner for Education, faulted the allegation on Monday, during a one day meeting on Roadmap to Equality, Tools for Transforming Girls’ Education in Bauchi organised by Connected Development (CODE ) funded by MALALA Funds.

According to him, the State Government, through the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), was ensuring effective monitoring and supervision of every project across the State.

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Lawal added that with the reorganisation of SUBEB, things have changed positively as the Staff were now more up and doing than before.

He explained that efforts were ongoing to ensure that SUBEB takes complete control of Teachers recruitment and supervision in order to ensure that things are done the right and proper way.

The Commissioner stressed that the State Government was committed to ensuring standard and quality educational services delivery in order to produce students that could compete with others from across the country.

While declaring the meeting opened, the Commissioner commended the organisers of the meeting adding that it was coming at the right time.

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Earlier speaking, Hamza Lawal of the MALALA Funds explained that the meeting was basically to present the findings on the status of Girls education in the State based on the outcome of a survey conducted in 4 LGAs of the State.

He assured that the MALALA Funds would continue to support development and growth of Girls education in the State so as to bridge the gap in the sector.

In her remarks, Partnership Manager, Nigeria Malala Fund’s, Maryam Danburam, commended the development of Education in the state in spite of the huge number of out-of-school children saying that the gap is gradually closing up.

She assured that the Fund will continue to have its presence in the state in order to improve the quality and standards of education of the girls.

Prof. Adisa Bello, Former Registrar, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) says that the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) is working tirelessly with the council to curb quackery in engineering in Nigeria.

Bello stated this in Bauchi on Monday during a public lecture and launching of a magazine by the final year students of Engineering department of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi.

According to him, COREN on its own has an Engineering Regulatory Monitoring Unit visible and working in 29 states of the country, saying if the unit finds anyone culpable of quackery would be handed to the ICPC for further prosecution.

“COREN is council for regulation of Engineering in Nigeria and it started in 1970 and it has its laws amended in 1992, 2004 and 2018.

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“The specific one I’m referring to is the amendment in 2018 which categorically gave COREN the mandate to prosecute offenders of engineering.

“Anybody that is not a registered practitioner in engineering and is practicing engineering should be prosecuted by COREN.

“And COREN is doing everything humanly possible to ensure that this is done. COREN currently has a memorandum of Understanding with the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and this commission is doing everything possible to ensure that offenders are prosecuted,” he said.

Bello, who is also a lecturer at the department of Mechanical engineering, ATBU, recounted how a multi-billion naira 21 storey building collapsed in Lagos where COREN did investigation, after which some engineers were found wanting and handed over to ICPC for proper prosecution.

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“COREN has what is called an investigative panel and once this panel establishes that someone is culpable, it takes you to the ICPC and then straight to the court.

“Also, during our examination, we normally write examinations for qualifications and one individual came with a fake result and we called on the ICPC and they have done all their investigations and found the person culpable and right now he is under prosecution,” he explained.

The don called on higher institutions and academics to ensure that all their engineering programmes were properly accredited by the National University Commission and COREN.

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In a paper titled, Smart Cities and the role of Engineering and Technology in building the Urban future, Dr Ibrahim Ikara, Head of Department, Civil Engineering, ATBU, said engineers played a critical role in smart cities through the design of modern infrastructure, disaster resilient systems and eco-friendly neighborhoods.

Represented by Engr Muhammad Suleiman, Ikara listed some of the challenges of building smart cities in developing nations to include infrastructure deficit, limited funding, low level of digital literacy among citizens.

He called on policy makers and implementers to adopt and pay closer attention to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics STEM to achieve the set goals.