Kwara state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq Thursday cautioned against
advocacy for scraping of polytechnic from the nation’s educational system.
Instead, he said Nigeria must embrace technical education as part of preparation to survive post- oil years which he said could be nearer than expected.
The governor gave the admonition in his address at the 26th Convocation ceremony of the Kwara state Polytechnic in Ilorin, the state capital.
Represented at the event by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Mamman Saba Jibril, AbdulRasaq called for better attention to technical education, agriculture and enterprise.
“The whole world is preparing for post-oil years and this means we must consciously wean ourselves off the unhelpful addiction to the oil wealth. We must promote skills acquisition, agribusiness, and enterprise,” AbdulRazaq said.
The governor described as lacking depth earlier suggestions that Nigeria should scrap Polytechnic education.
He said that the coming post oil years open the window for institutions offering technical education to redirect the country to the path of sustainable growth and self-reliance.
“Kwara under us will promote agribusiness, skills acquisition, private initiatives and local technological inventions,” he said.
“Among other plans, the ongoing process to renovate the Kwara State Library, equip it with fast internet facilities for e-learning, and make it the launchpad for our innovation hub is a step in this direction and we will follow it through, God willing. We will support technological inventions, especially from our own institutions, that would help to strengthen our agricultural value chain.
“This message is for the Kwara state Polytechnic and other technical institutions as it is for the lucky graduands. Dear graduands, I want you to imagine a future without petrol dollars or a future where robots would take over most of the jobs now handled by humans. This is why the entrepreneurial and technical skills you are taught here are very important. We are headed to a time when the 9-5 job cycle will either go out of fashion or would not be able to meet the challenges of the 21st century. So, I appeal to you to buckle down as you get set to face the world outside of the four walls of your schools. I urge you to consider becoming job providers rather than job seekers.”
Rector of the polytechnic, Dr Abdul Jimoh Mohammed, called for restoration of subvention to the institution to enable it achieve its obligations .
He said though the institution had been able to fulfill its obligation of payment of salaries on or before the 25 the of every month, it requires funds to rehabilitate aging structures, implement staff promotion, staff training and retraining among others.
