New Horizons Nigeria, a private owned information technology (IT) training institute, opened an international IT resource centre valued at over N100 million at Landmark University, Omu-Aran, in Kwara State at the weekend.

The centre will empower students of the institution with the most sought after IT skills and professional certifications.

The IT resource centre which comprises of two lecture halls at the university, contains 150 state-of-the-art compact desktop computers, projectors, software for labs practice , over 5 000 textbooks covering several IT and e- businesses courses, among others.

The Pro Chancellor of Landmark University, Professor Yemi Nathaniel who launched the IT resource centre alongside the vice chancellor, Professor Mathew Ajayi; the Acting Registrar, Dr. Mrs. Rachael Adebayo and many other prefessors, academic and non-academic staff and students enjoined the students to avail themselves of the opportunities that new Horizons brings to their future.

The vice chancellor who welcomed the New Horizons team led by its Managing Director, Mr. Tim Akano, said the journey to actualise the project began four years ago. "I want to specially commend the New Horizons team for their tenacity and for not giving up even when things seems not to be going the way they were expecting.

I know the impact New Horizons is making Covenant University has been wonderful. That is why when I resumed here I stated that certified IT professional courses must be part of our curriculum," Ajayi said.

"I want our students to take maximum advantage of the opportunities available at the IT resource centre. I believe even if you are studying History with the skills and certification programmes offered by the New Horizons/Landmark University you can work anywhere in the world including the oil industry," he added.

Ajayi said right from inception, the school invested millions of naira in ICT connecting the school's classrooms, lecture halls, halls of residence and offices with fibre optic cables to provide high speed internet to aid instructions.

"Every organisation is seeking competitive advantage; I believe with this partnership with New Horizons, we are in for a good time. We are blessed to have New Horizons," Ajayi explained.

Akano in his speech spoke on how the ICT world is being controlled by young innovators who have founded companies like Google, Facebook, WhatsApp etc. He urged the students to empower themselves with IT professional certifications to be relevant in today's world.

"You can be self-employed after graduation. You can create your own companies and become employers of labour. Some days ago, Facebook acquired WhatsApp, a messaging company founded by two young people for $19 billion, that is about 40 per cent of Nigeria's GDP," Akano said.

"Few months ago, Apple Inc. bought a mapping company owned by a young Nigerian by name Chinedu for $1bn. Google also bought a company called WAZE for $1bn. You can begin to do similar innovations by dreaming big" he added.

Akano told the university that he was at Hebrew University, Israel few weeks ago and held discussions on how they can enhance Nigerian higher institutions competencies in agriculture technologies.

He has also held discussion with the Israeli ambassador to Nigeria who has promised to come and deliver a lecture at Landmark University on the same topic. He added that New Horizons was committed to improving the skills of the students and lecturers alike.