The Iwuanyanwu Foundation, a non-profit organization, has sponsored 27 graduate youths in automobile engineering at the Innoson Kiara Academy in Imo.

The beneficiaries came on a thank-you visit to the Chairman of the foundation, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, in his Owerri residence on Wednesday.

Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, Mr. Lazarus Vincent, said they undertook a one-year intensive training of six months of theoretical work and six months of practicals.

He thanked Iwuanyanwu for his “fatherly disposition and milk of human kindness”.

He promised that they would deploy the skills they acquired in advancing the automotive engineering sector in Imo and Nigeria at large.

In a remark, Iwuanyanwu congratulated them on their successful completion of the one-year program at the academy, which is a division of the Innoson Group.

According to him, the trainees were drawn from the 27 local government areas of Imo.

He further said that the decision to sponsor the training was “borne out of my desire to give back to society and create jobs for unemployed youths”.

He advised them “to be honest, efficient and patriotic” in all their undertakings.

“It is my desire that you grow by leaps and bounds, that you blaze the trail in vehicle maintenance in Nigeria and be able to give back to society also.

“As long as God permits and to the limit of our ability, we will continue to contribute our quota to national development,” he said.

Iwuanyanwu thanked the management of Innoson Group for “a healthy partnership, which has resulted in the production of 27 duly trained automobile engineering experts”.

He reaffirmed his commitment to youth empowerment through formal training in skill acquisition.

The business mogul appealed to Nigerians and the government at all levels to patronize the Innoson brand of vehicles.

“It is a major way to grow Nigeria’s economy and encourage local content and patronage of indigenous products,” he said.

He said that the foundation had so far sponsored at least 5,000 youths in different specialized fields through scholarships.