The Federal Government has expressed a strong belief in the capacity of technical and vocational education as a solution to unemployment and a source of national development.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical Vocational and Enterpreneurship Education,Madam Abiola Arogundade stated this at the first graduation ceremony of I- Academy at Palm Grove area of Lagos State.
She said the President, while serving as Lagos State Governor institutionalised technical education, which produced thousands of skilled workers, some of whom have today become employers of labour.
According to her, the President intends to lift 133 million Nigerians out of poverty, adding training and skill acquisition will help to reduce poverty and unemployment in he country.
She further said that the federal government has initiated moves to raise the bar of 15% highly skilled Nigerians and 54% who are semi skilled through interventions such as backward integration and collaboration with the private sector to make them readily available for employment.
The Presidential aide assured that anyone trained under the initiatives would have access to loan facility from the federal government to start a business and become an enterprenneur.
” We are patnering with other countries to make sure that we train the citizens of this country on global skills by revamping the curriculum to ensure people are employed on a global standard to stem the tide of japa,” she added.
She promised to collaborate with the I-Academy and other similar bodies, stressing that the job of today may not exist tomorrow due to evolving technology and reason for Nigerians to engage in continuous learning.
Abiola Arogundade charged the graduands to be good Ambassadors of the Academy and the country at large, noting that the training aqcuired had put them ahead of.millions of their peers in the country.
On his part, the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Mr Tony Elumelu said leadership is all about providing a conducive environment for people to thrive in all endeavours and help others to grow.
He congratulated the graduands, saying the future of the country and Africa is in their hands.
Mr Elumelu also charged them to commit themselves to success beyond today’s celebration, adding the multiplier effect would be felt in the country.
He noted that hard work is the only way to success and advised the first set of participants at the Academy to go all out and conquer the world.
The best three out of the twenty seven graduands that spent nine months as the first set of trainees of the Academy received various Awards.
