In furtherance of Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration’s focus on skills development, the management of Edo State Polytechnic, Usen, has finalised modalities for the establishment of the Centre for Environmental Governance and Conservation and the Centre for Apprenticeship and Skills Trade at the institution.
Rector of the school, Prof. Abiodun Falodun, who disclosed this in a chat with journalists, said the centres are part of holistic plans to transform the polytechnic into a centre of excellence in entrepreneurship and environment management.
According to him, “We are well aware that Governor Godwin Obaseki has the issue of skills development as a cardinal point for his administration. That is one of the reasons we are opening the centre. At the same time, we are also worried that many technical jobs in the country are being done by foreigners. As a polytechnic, skills development falls within our mandate. That is why we are setting up the Centre for Apprenticeship and Skills Trade to bridge the gap between the town and the gown.”
He noted that the school authorities are in talks with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the National Business and Technical Education Board (NABTEB) on how we can have the Polytechnic as a rallying point in formalising apprenticeship and skills trade.
He explained that the two centres will join others already up and running in the school, which include the Centre for Geospatial Information Science (CGIS); Centre for Entrepreneurship and Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, among others.
He said that the state government and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) play instrumental role to the success being recorded in the school, adding that the school also needs the support of more stakeholders to continue in its march to become one of the top-rated higher institutions of learning in Edo State and in Nigeria at large.
According to Falodun, the Centre for Environmental Governance and Conservation is aimed at galvanising effort for the conseravtion of the forest belt in Ovia axis of the state, as well as other areas that are at risk of deforestation.
“The new centre will benefit from the equipment in the CGIS to monitor and manage the forestbelt in our immediate environment and pioneer groundbreaking work in environmental conservation in this part of the state, which will later be extrapolated to other parts of Edo and Nigeria,” the Rector said.
