Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu
The Abia state government has reiterated its desire to train 6,000 persons in technical and vocational skills under its Education For Employment programme.The state governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu stated this in Umuahia on recently while declaring open a five-day National skills qualification and certification training for about 45 Abia state Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) personnel which is executed in collaboration with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).
The governor who was represented by the Commissioner for Education, Prof Ikechi Mgbeoji said that the government involvement in the training and sponsorship, which was funded by Ford Foundation, underscored the importance the state government attached to technical and vocational training.
According to him, the state government was determined to train not less than 6,000 people in technical and vocational skills lamenting that the country was importing what could not be fixed, maintained or serviced locally.
On his part, the NBTE Executive Secretary, Dr Mas’ud Kazaure stressed the need to train Nigerians in technical and vocational skills and de-emphasize certifications.Represented by a Deputy Director, Mr Hasaini Muhammad, the Executive Secretary attributed part of the nation’s problems like examination malpractices and certificate forgeries to too much attachment to certificates in preference to practical skills duly acquired saying, “we should consequently de-emphasize certificate for skills technical and vocational skills acquisition.”
State Coordinator of E4E Mr Endi Ezenwa said that it was partly due to what Abia state already did that it was chosen by the Ford Foundation for the training sponsorship stressing the need to build-up critical trainers.
In his remarks during the training, which was moderated by Suleiman Yusuf of NBTE Kaduna, the training resource person and facilitator, Mr Ibidapo Olabode urged youths and the trainees to strive to benefit optimally from the training saying, “the skills you will acquire here will impact positively on your progress and development.”
Source: G Business
