The Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has described Polytechnic education as critical to the development of any nation, saying the current frightening unemployment rate being experienced in Nigeria can be tamed with functional technical education.
Oyebanji said it is high time the country played down paper qualification and embrace technical education that can increase self- employment among the unemployed teeming youth, who are on daily basis scrambling for non-existing jobs.
The governor said these on Wednesday, while receiving members of the Governing Council of Ekiti State Polytechnic, Isan Ekiti, in his office in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State Capital.
Oyebanji, represented by the Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs) Monisade Afuye, pledged adequate funding for the fledging institution to be able to live up to the mandate of being a veritable training ground for Nigerians who are desirous of technical education.
The governor posited that what Nigeria requires at this time is functional education, whereby graduates can acquire education that can make them job creators, rather than employment seekers.
He said any country that despises technical education does that at its own peril, saying it has become a vogue being embraced by developing nations to operate successfully under the 21st century economy.
“Let me praise Governor Oyebanji for carefully selecting the members of the Governing Council, who were eggheads from different prestigious institutions.We need a system of education where our youth can have access to trainings that can make them to be employers of labour, rather than job seekers.
“I want you to give your best in that school, by giving our youths the opportunity to acquire the right skills, because paper qualification is no longer fashionable.
“Since assumption of office, the governor had been providing jobs for our youth, while also providing trainings for people to be self dependent like the Adire Hub championed by the First Lady.
We now have different brands of Adire in town, so the skill acquisition aspect is very critical to train your undergraduates”.
Oyebanji promised adequate funding for the institution to be able to deliver on its mandate to the citizens, saying this reflected in the jacking up of subventions to all the institutions in Ekiti, including the State Polytechnic.
In his submission, the Chairman of the institution’s Governing Council, Prof Adedayo Fasakin, promised the seriousness of the citadel of learning to diligently prosecute its intention of ensuring that all the undergraduates pass through the Vocational and Skill Acquisition Centre of the institution.
Fasakin described Polytechnic education as very key and strategic to the development of any country, saying Nigeria as a developing country can’t be an exemption to this global trend.
He said: “It is our intention to turn things around in that institution, by providing training for them so that they can be self dependent in terms of job creation.
“We have a clear cut mandate, which is to promote vocational and the technical education through that school. We will do our best because we have enormous work to do. We will not disappoint Mr Governor. We are here to contribute our quota, if we can do it in other states, why can’t we do it in Ekiti.
“We have a skill acquisition and agricultural training centres that we are trying to build. We will use it to train and retrain our people. Some are saying polytechnic is not up to the university in status, they are making mistakes. We are ready to impact the people of Ekiti and the host community.
“This institution might be a small institution, but by the time we will grow, we will surely make the right impact. That is why the school must be well funded and well equipped to be able to respond to the challenge of training and research”.
Fasakin stated that the institution will also embark on aggressive IGR drive to be able to back what the government is offering as subvention to build the institution to a world class status.
