Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has assured of its government’s readiness to sustain investment in technical and vocational education to drive the state’s industrial growth.
Obaseki who stated this while receiving members of Benin College Old Students’ Association Worldwide, led by the President, Friday Emuze, said his government would build about 20 technical colleges, with one in each council to drive Edo’s industrial growth and boost employment opportunities.
Heeding the group’s request for the Government Science and Technical College, Benin to revert to its original name, the Benin Technical College, he said: “I am convinced that we should restore the school to its original name. I am also glad about how you are going to mark your anniversary by giving awards to the students and supporting them in sporting activities. By the way, we have plans to build mini stadia in that location to encourage sports.”
Obaseki continued: “We are working with the Federal Government to ensure that Federal College of Education, Technical in Ekiadolor takeoff, so that we can train a pool of teachers to help us begin to spread our new gospel of revamping technical education in our state.
“One of the reasons we must go back to Benin Technical College is that we are going to have more technical colleges in city centres; so let everybody bear their names.
“We want to have 20 technical colleges; one in each council. So, you can imagine the requirements in terms of teachers, technical know-how and equipment. Even if we have all the money, there are still some gaps to be filled,” he added.
Obaseki, who highlighted the importance of technical education in the socio-economic growth and development of any nation, said one of the major reasons for high unemployment rate in Nigeria, apart from poor government policies, was lack of skills.
He said: “People just look down on vocational training; everybody just wants a degree and certificates. We were very clear right from day one that the way to go was to rethink our educational system to produce self-reliant people.”
Earlier, Emuze commended the governor for reviving technical education in the state and urged him to ensure the repositioning of Benin Technical College.