Last July 2021, LINCCO helped Lantana College of Hospitality, in Enugu State, Nigeria, to meet up with its expenses in running the two years certificate programme and the modular programmes of the “National Skills qualification” (NSQ) programme during and even after the lockdown caused by Covid-19.

As a result of the donation, the College acquired and installed some equipment for stable Internet and students and school staff received a stipend to purchase data . Online learning was an entirely different experience for the learners and the educators at Lantana, but they had to adapt since there were little or no alternatives available.

To recruit more students, which was highly affected by the lockdown and downturn of the economic resources, the College engaged in several advertising activities, such as:

• Hosted a meeting for the Society for Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (STPN), to make the College better known;
• Printed handbills and flyers for the different programs of the College, to be distributed in schools and hospitality organizations in Enugu;
• Radio and TV jingles and adverts at the right time to be able to reach a larger audience and so get more applicants for the next academic year;
• Organized an open-career day in many schools;
• Organized a cookery competition among secondary schools in the state.

As part of the measure of keeping safe during the pandemic, constant hand washing is advised and, in Enugu State, there is a serious shortage of water supply. The College had to resort to getting water delivered to the school so that there will be adequate supply of water for use.

The 18 students who received a scholarship from LINCCO were able to follow the timeline and graduated. They have proceeded on their Industrial Training. Five of them were visited by a team of assessors from the school at their place of internship. The team and their employers were happy with their performance.

The three months modular hospitality course in Food and Beverage production for the year came to an end at the end of 2021 with 21 female participants. They were taught courses like hospitality mathematics, functional skills, professional ethics and how to prepare an array of continental and local dishes. The participants were tested in an examination on the skills taught at the end of the three-month course.

A new academic year 2021/2022 started in October 2021 and, thank to the new publicity, 12 young ladies were admitted for the two-year programme in Hospitality Operations. The ladies began their academic journey with an orientation course, medical tests and mandatory unit classes.

Expression of Gratitude: They are very grateful to LINCCO for the rapid response received in a moment of crisis and wish to laud our benevolence in this expression of solidarity to their college. They said: “Words are inadequate to express our gratitude”.