By Dadson A. Musa
The Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) which has its headquarters in Bo Southern Sierra Leone, qualified for the World Bank-funded SDF grant and has since gone about its implementation. SL OIC was founded in in 1975 (Nineteen seventy-five), and has targeted youths who have not made it to university or other higher institutions of learning. The idea of its formation was conceived by a German, L.H. Sullivan and some Sierra Leoneans. It is currently headed by Ali Ben Sei. Whether it was colonial mentality or so but Sierra Leoneans have respected only those who have made it to university and have white-collar jobs. This has not apparently helped this country’s development strides. The answer, it has been found out lies with blue-collar or job diversification move. To reduce the drop-out or unemployment rate the World Bank in partnership with government launched a project for the development of the skills of our youths. The project fund in total for the whole country was $22,000,000 (twenty-two million us dollars). OIC was among the first set of grantees. The institution has gone about implementation of this project and they targeted six hundred and fifty beneficiaries on all its campuses country-wide. The Bo campus alone catered for two hundred and five students and the rest had been spread among their other OIC campuses around the country. The project’s life span was nine months. Six months of it was skills training and the remaining three months was on-the-job training.
The OIC had developed a standardized syllabus that targets scientifically and technically-gifted students. And its tutors are paid from the consolidated fund of the government. Its challenge though has been attracting the right tutors for their respective courses. The reason for their qualification for this grant is that they offer practical-oriented hands-on skills to our young people. According to the Programme Manager, Fatorma Musa, there had been a “perception problem or communication gap” about the relevance of the institution. But that has gradually changed over the years and the populace has bought into the notion that the institution is no longer about drop-outs but livelihood skills that are changing the lives of graduates and their communities. And the admission rate had been shooting up over the years as our electricians, plumbers, welders, motor-mechanics, agriculturists, IT specialists, masons, etc. graduating from OIC have been of immense relevance to society in this country.
Once this first phase of the project is successfully implemented, they stand the chance of being granted another project. So far, this SDF project looks attractive to students as they also get a stipend of Two hundred and fifty thousand leones while they are on their job-training experience. A sister institution, Southern Agro-Industrial Development Associate Centre (SAIDAC) in Bo that offers similar courses also promises so much and stands to benefit from the next set of grants. And this project implemented by World Bank and government of Sierra Leone will go a long way in changing the narrative of our much-priced youths who are our future.
The OIC has so grown that they are not only an educational institution but a business hub now. They have a standard guest house and an entertainment center which is centrally located in the city of Bo. For now, in the south of the country it is probably the best technical-vocational institution that is attracting young pupils in their numbers. At the just conducted athletics meet held in the Bo mini stadium, the Executive Director, Ali Ben Sei called on the youths “to grab the opportunity and make themselves useful citizens.” He entreated them to be involved in sport instead of taking kush in addition to their educational empowerment. OIC has grown into a tech-voc institution that is responding to government’s call for independence and self-reliance
Copy right –Printed in the Expo Times News on MONDAY, April 8th, 2024 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)
