By Rosemary Ogbonnaya
Federal Government and the World Bank have organised a workshop in Makurdi, the Benue state capital to enhance Nigeria’s skills development for former and informer sectors of the Nation’s economy.
The workshop was geared towards
repositioning Technical Education and reduce the high rate of unemployment in the country.
Also, the workshop being put together under the World Bank sponsored project “Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills,IDEALS,has the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Board for Technical Education, Abia, Edo, Ekiti, Benue, Gombe, and Kano States as implementing Agencies.
In his speech, the Education Minister, Adamu Adamu said the essence of the IDEAS project is to address the current deficiencies in the education system that have made a large number of school leavers unemployed,urging Nigerian youths to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the project.
According to the speech read on his behalf by the National Project Coordinator, Mrs Blessing Ogwu,
an estimated 40 Technical colleges in the country, alongside the private sector will benefit from the project which also has a technical teacher training component.
The Minister revealed that a Two Hundred Million Dollar credit facility from the world Bank has been approved for the project which implementation will span over a five year period.
Earlier, in his welcome address,the Benue state commissioner for education,Dr Saawuan Tarnongu, commended the world Bank, Federal Ministry of education and other stakeholders for organising the workshop, pledging the total support and commitment of the Government and good people of Benue state towards the successful implementation of the project.
As part of its commitment , the commissioner said, Governor Samuel Ortom has approved the recruitment of science and technical teachers as well as the erection of perimeter fences for all the colleges selected for the project in the state.
On his part, the state coordinator of IDEAS project, Samuel Kwende told participants that the training of key players in the chain of the implementation process is a prerequisite for the overall success of the project.
