The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Gozie Anwukah, has urged Nigerian youths to embrace vocational skills in line with the present administration’s high premium on steering the development of the nation’s economy away from dependence on oil.
Prof. Anwukah, who gave the charge at the Grand Finale of the National Students Vocational Skills Competition 2017, held at the National Board for Technical Education in Abuja, stressed that vocational and technical education has worked wonders for developed economies.
The Minister, represented by his Special Adviser (Technical), Prof. Godswill Obioma, noted that Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) holds the key to wealth creation and urged the students to follow their passion as they progress in their regular academic activities.
Earlier, in a welcome address, the Director of Technology and Science Education in the Ministry, Mr Samuel Ojo, whose department organised the competition, re-assured of government continued support for youths in the area of vocational education in order to be self-reliant as government alone cannot provide all the employment need of the citizenry.
According to him, the competition among Federal Science and Technical Colleges nation- wide was aimed at raising the status and standard of vocational skills and training thereby arousing the innovative skills of the students as it has been achieved in developed countries.