The Supervising Minister of Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has said that the present administration’s Transformation Agenda places priority on the promotion of technical and vocational education as well as training at all levels of the education system since these hold the key to the eradication of poverty in Nigeria.
Ezenwo Nyesom Wike stated this at the grand finale of the 2013 National Students Vocational Skills Competition for Federal Science and Technical Colleges, organized by the Department of Technology and Science Education of the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja on Thursday February 13, 2014.
The Minister, who was represented at the event by the Director of Human Resources Management, F. O. Ikibeh stated that the competition was to simulate the innovative and creative abilities of the students in compliance with the agreement reached at the 3rd UNESCO Conference on TVET in 2012, which requested for such competitions among the students, to arouse their interest in TVET.
While observing that the country has missed several opportunities to develop its manpower technical skills, the Minister indicated that it is time to engage in the production of the country’s consumables and to stop capital flight resulting from the out- sourcing of products and jobs to other countries. “The National Students’ Vocational Skills Competition is one of the many ways to get us started towards strategically turning around and repositioning our national economy for greater outcomes,” he explained.
In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, represented by the Director in the Department of Technology and Science Education noted that the competition was geared towards developing the hidden talents of the students, in order to engender national development.
“It is an effective way of inspecting the quality of routine teaching in our Federal Science and Technical Colleges and provides the opportunity to enhance the positive image of vocational skills in our young people,” the Minister pointed.
In the highlight of the competition which featured sixteen schools at the final stage, the Federal Science and Technical College emerged 1st position with a project on manual corn thresher, while the Federal Science and Technical College, Usi – Ekiti and that of Uyo emerged 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.
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